(SGER) Pilot Expedition for Multi-Taxa Biodiversity Surveys in the Bolivian Andes

摘要热带安第斯山脉是全球生物多样性的中心，拥有比其他任何生物多样性热点地区更多的植物和脊椎动物物种和更高的地方性特征。关于玻利维亚安第斯山脉物种分布的信息对保护重点的设定和管理至关重要，并且在分类学、系统学和生物地理学领域具有普遍意义。然而，对于大多数分类群来说，这一全球重要地区的玻利维亚部分仍然是整个安第斯山脉中调查最少的部分之一。美国自然历史博物馆（AMNH）的生物多样性和保护中心（CBC）、玻利维亚动物收藏馆（CBF）和诺埃尔·肯普夫·梅尔卡多自然历史博物馆（MHNNKM）组成了一个联盟，研究这一调查很少的地区。该联盟已经制定了一系列计划，在玻利维亚政府确定为关键管理挑战的两个安第斯保护区（国家公园和Cotapata地区de Manejo Integrado，国家公园和Amboro地区de Manejo Integrado）进行海拔梯度的多类群调查。鸟类、鱼类、爬行动物和无脊椎动物将采用标准化的采集方法，沿海拔3000米以上的梯度同时采样。大型生物调查项目越来越被认为是在了解各种分类群的生物地理学和系统分类学方面取得重大进展的经济有效的手段。但是，这种规模的调查需要广泛的后勤和方法考虑。为了筹备这一重大倡议，将在玻利维亚国家公园和安博罗地区的一个地点进行一次试验性调查，以开始该财团的实地活动，并最后确定今后调查的规程。该试点调查的目标是：1)量化达到物种偶遇率的渐近线或统计估计一个地点的真实物种丰富度所需的时间和采样努力。2)评估条形码和跟踪标本的可行性，从标本在偏远野外采集之时起，经过准备和鉴定阶段，直到标本进入博物馆收藏。3)全面规范无脊椎动物采样方法。4)派遣一个小团队访问Amoboro和Cotapata的其他拟议研究地点，以便有效协调未来的访问。开发一套标准化的生物多样性调查技术和量化充分评估物种丰富度或特有性所需的抽样工作，有可能提高生物多样性调查的效率，并将其应用到更广泛的地区。微型条形码和数据库技术的使用已经极大地提高了生物多样性调查和收集管理的效率，特别是对无脊椎动物而言。通过开发和实施基于现场的协议来使用这些技术，本研究将有助于扩大这些数字技术在现场调查中的应用。这次试点考察的结果将有助于简化安第斯地区多分类群调查的设计和执行，并将特别为玻利维亚拟议的一系列调查的设计提供信息。

AbstractThe tropical Andes are an epicenter of global diversity, containing more plant and vertebrate species and higher levels of endemism than any other biodiversity hotspot. Information on the distribution of species within the Bolivian Andes is critical for conservation priority setting and management, and is of general interest to the fields of taxonomy, systematics, and biogeography. Yet for most taxa, the Bolivian portion ofthis globally important region remains one of the most poorly surveyed segments of the entire Andean chain. The Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC) at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), the Coleccion Boliviana de Fauna (CBF), and the Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado (MHNNKM) have formed a consortium to study this poorly surveyed region. The consortium has developed plans for a series of multi-taxa surveys across elevational gradients in two Andean protected areas that the Bolivian government has identified as critical management challenges: Parque Nacional and Area de Manejo Integrado Cotapata and Parque Nacional and Area de Manejo Integrado Amboro. Birds, fish, herpetofauna, and invertebrates will be sampled simultaneously using standardized collection methods along an elevational gradient of over 3000 meters. Large biotic survey projects are increasingly recognized as cost-effective means to making significant progress in understanding the biogeography and systematics of a variety of taxa. But surveys of this magnitude require extensive logistical and methodological considerations. In preparation for this major initiative, a pilot survey at a single site in Parque Nacional and Area de Manejo Integrado Amboro, Bolivia, will be conducted to initiate the consortium's field activities and finalize protocols for future surveys. Goals for the proposed pilot survey are to: 1) Quantify the amount of time and sampling effort necessary either to reach an asymptote in species encounter rates or to statistically estimate the true species richness at a site. 2) Evaluate the feasibility of barcoding and tracking specimens from the time of their collection at remote field sites, through the preparation and identification phases, to their accession into museum collections. 3) Fully standardize invertebrate sampling methods. 4) Send a small team to visit each of the additional proposed study sites in Amoboro and Cotapata in order to efficiently coordinate future visits. The development of a suite of standardized biodiversity survey techniques and quantifying the sampling effort needed to adequately assess species richness or endemism has the potential to make biodiversity surveys more efficient and extend their application to wider areas. The use of microbarcode and databasing technologies is already leading to enormous efficiencies in biodiversity surveys and collection management, particularly for invertebrates. By developing and implementing field-based protocols for using these technologies, this study will help expand the application of these digital advances to field surveys. The results of this pilot expedition will help streamline the design and execution of multi-taxa surveys in Andean regions, and will in particular inform the design of the proposed series of surveys in Bolivia.