International Journal of Molecular Evolution and Biodiversity 2024, Vol.14, No.4, 186-196 http://ecoevopublisher.com/index.php/ijmeb 191 For instance, the study on green microalgae (Coccomyxa) demonstrated the effectiveness of combining phenotypic and genetic parameters for species characterization. The use of DNA barcode markers (V4, V9, and ITS-2 regions) alongside morphological and physiological analyses revealed new lineages and putative new species, highlighting the importance of a polyphasic approach in microalgae taxonomy (Darienko et al., 2015). Similarly, the application of convolutional neural networks to integrate morphological and molecular data has shown high accuracy in species identification across various taxa, including beetles, butterflies, fishes, and moths (Yang et al., 2021). 5.2 Integrating ecological information Ecological data provide additional layers of information that can be crucial for species delimitation. These data include habitat preferences, ecological interactions, and geographical distribution, which can help distinguish species that are morphologically and genetically similar but occupy different ecological niches. In the case of the Pnigalio soemius complex, integrating ecological data such as host-plant associations and geographical separation, along with molecular and morphological analyses, helped resolve species boundaries and identify cryptic species. This integrative approach also suggested that endosymbiont infections could play a role in reproductive isolation and genetic diversification (Gebiola et al., 2012). Another example is the study on photosynthetic sea slugs, where ecological data were used to evaluate candidate species identified through DNA barcoding and morphological analysis, revealing significant cryptic diversity (Krug et al., 2013). Another example is the study by Zheng et al. (2024) that illustrates how environmental pressure drives the evolution of specific genes that are essential for survival in diverse habitats. The identification of PSGs related to detoxification, ubiquitin proteolysis system, and energy metabolism highlights the complex interaction between genetic evolution and environmental adaptation in P. lima and P. arenarium. These findings help us understand how species evolve to thrive in challenging environments (Figure 4). Figure 4 Schematic of adaptation in the evolution of P. limaandP. arenarium(Adopted from Zheng et al., 2024) Image caption: This figure presents a schematic representation of the adaptive evolution processes in Prorocentrum lima and Prorocentrum arenarium. The diagram is divided into four sections, each illustrating key biological pathways and systems that have undergone adaptive evolution in these species (Adopted from Zheng et al., 2024)
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