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- Rhodoliths and their importance for macroalgal ecology and biodiversity in the NW Gulf of MexicoPublication . Fredericq, Suzanne; Krayesky-Self, Sherry; Sauvage, Thomas; Richards, Joseph; Kittle III, Ronald Paul; Gurgel, Carlos Frederico Deluqui; Gabriel, Daniela; Schmidt, WilliamUnderstanding the ecology and biodiversity of deep-water communities is a major challenge. In the NW Gulf of Mexico, unique deep bank habitats associated with salt domes occur at ~50-90m on the continental shelf offshore Louisiana and Texas. In these mesophotic rubble habitats rhodoliths are the main hard substrata for the attachment of macroalgae. Metabarcoding of environmental DNA using molecular markers for rhodolith’s endolithic portions has revealed hidden cryptic algal diversity including spores, propagules, and unsuspected life history stages. We explored cryo-SEM in the study of endolithic cell inclusions which brought to light a suite of microalgal stages. We were able to differentiate floridean starch from cellular inclusions. Analyses of combined 16S V4 metabarcodes and 16S Sanger sequences of several macroalgal orders increased the established record of diversity in the region. Progress is underway to link the eukaryotic component of the rhodolith holobiont (“total organism”) with its co-occurring prokaryotic component. Rhodoliths are marine biodiversity hotspots that may function as seedbanks, temporary reservoirs for life history stages of ecologically important eukaryotic microalgae, or as refugia for ecosystem resilience following environmental stress.