US-South Africa Cooperative Research: Ant Diversity and Conservation Assessment

美国-南非合作研究：蚂蚁多样性和保护评估

• 批准号: 9986272
• 负责人: Brian Fisher
• 金额: $ 3.97万
• 依托单位: California Academy of Sciences
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-07-01 至 2005-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9986272&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: US; South; Africa; Cooperative; Research

9986272This award supports a three-year collaborative research project between Dr. Brian Fisher, of the Department of Entomology at the California Academy of Sciences, and Drs. Hamish Robertson and Simon Van Noort, of the Life Sciences Division at the South African Museum in Cape Town, South Africa.South Africa has many diverse ecoregions, which contain a rich multitude of endemic plant and animal species. Information on overall diversity and patterns of species turnover for most vertebrates and floral groups within the ecoregions are well known, but little data is available on the invertebrates. Ants are one of the most ecologically and numerically dominant families of invertebrates found in almost all terrestrial regions of the world, and they are a key taxon for surveying and interpreting biodiversity. Dr. Fisher will conduct baseline biodiversity surveys of ants in nature conservation areas located in four of the most biologically diverse ecoregions in South Africa. A comparison of these data with data on other floral and faunal groups will provide a valuable basis for studying how species composition and diversity changes with physiography, and will also enhance our understanding about intertaxon differences in diversity patterns. The South African collaborator has a related project, supported by the World Bank, to evaluate ant diversity in agricultural zones. Dr. Fisher's study will provide baseline diversity data for a comparison of species turnover patterns between agricultural areas and nature conservation areas for use in evaluating the role that conservation farming practices have in preserving the biodiversity of ants and other invertebrates in the four ecoregions. The results will expand the current knowledge on the diversity and biogeography of ants in South Africa, and establish the regional and global importance of conserving biodiversity on farms. The Division of International Programs and the Division of Environmental Biology are jointly providing funding for this project.

9986272该奖项支持加州科学院昆虫学系的Brian Fisher博士与南非开普敦南非博物馆生命科学部的Hamish Robertson博士和Simon货车Noort博士之间为期三年的合作研究项目。南非有许多不同的生态区，其中包含丰富的地方性植物和动物物种。 关于生态区内大多数脊椎动物和植物群的总体多样性和物种更替模式的信息是众所周知的，但关于无脊椎动物的数据很少。 蚂蚁是在世界上几乎所有陆地区域发现的最具生态和数量优势的无脊椎动物家族之一，它们是调查和解释生物多样性的关键类群。 费舍尔博士将在南非四个生物多样性最丰富的生态区的自然保护区进行蚂蚁的基线生物多样性调查。 将这些数据与其他植物和动物群的数据进行比较，将为研究物种组成和多样性如何随自然地理学而变化提供有价值的基础，也将增强我们对多样性模式中分类群间差异的理解。 南非的合作者有一个由世界银行支助的相关项目，以评估农业区的蚂蚁多样性。 费舍尔博士的研究将提供基线多样性数据，用于比较农业区和自然保护区之间的物种更替模式，以用于评估保护性农业实践在保护四个生态区中蚂蚁和其他无脊椎动物生物多样性方面的作用。 研究结果将扩大目前对南非蚂蚁多样性和物种分布的了解，并确立保护农场生物多样性的区域和全球重要性。国际方案司和环境生物学司共同为该项目提供资金。