Madagascar Ant Diversity Initiative (MANDI)

摘要马达加斯加岛是世界上杰出的生物“热点”之一，拥有许多珍稀和特有的动植物物种。马达加斯加蚂蚁多样性倡议（MANDI）关注的是发现和记录栖息在这个岛上的蚂蚁和其他节肢动物的物种，其中大部分仍然是未知的科学。在早期马达加斯加西部干旱森林节肢动物清单的基础上，目前的项目将集中于从危险的东部雨林取样。收集到的标本将由一个由分类学家和实习学生组成的合作小组进行研究。将利用一个专门的网站（www.antweb.org）在网上迅速传播项目协调小组的成果。该网站将提供识别工具、生物信息、分布图、物种描述和每种蚂蚁的高质量彩色图像。对于选定的蚂蚁群体，将进行更全面的研究——使用形态学和DNA序列数据——以确定马达加斯加蚂蚁与它们在非洲大陆上最近的亲戚的进化关系。这将揭示马达加斯加蚂蚁动物群的起源，并将深入了解导致目前岛屿动物群组成的过程，例如大陆漂移和水上分散。这些结果将与已知的其他马达加斯加动物，如狐猴和变色龙进行比较。蚂蚁是生命之网的重要组成部分。它们参与了许多重要的生态系统过程，如捕食、种子传播、土壤周转和有机物的再循环。因此，蚂蚁是环境质量的敏感指标。一个关于马达加斯加蚂蚁种类的特征和分布的综合数据库将为在这一濒危生物区域确定保护优先事项提供关键信息，并将促进在持续监测和评估中使用蚂蚁。为了确保将MANDI的数据纳入目前的保护工作，已与马达加斯加的政府机构建立了正式关系。MANDI项目还将导致在系统学、保护和生物多样性研究领域培训美国和马达加斯加的学生。蚁网将为传播地球上丰富多样的昆虫生命信息提供一个创新的模式。

Madagascar Ant Diversity Initiative (MANDI)AbstractThe island of Madagascar is one of the world's outstanding biological "hotspots", harboring many rare and endemic species of animals and plants. The Madagascar Ant Diversity Initiative (MANDI) is concerned with discovering and documenting the species of ants and other arthropods that inhabit this island, most of which remain unknown to science. Building on an earlier arthropod inventory of the dry forests of western Madagascar, the current project will focus on sampling from the imperiled eastern rainforests. The collected specimens will be studied by a collaborating team of taxonomists and students-in-training. Results from the project focal group, ants, will be rapidly disseminated online, using a dedicated web site (www.antweb.org). This web site will provide identification tools, biological information, distribution maps, species descriptions, and high-quality color images of each ant species. For selected groups of ants more comprehensive studies will be carried out-using both morphology and DNA sequence data-to determine the evolutionary relationships of the Madagascar ants to their nearest relatives on the African mainland. This will shed light on the origins of the Malagasy ant fauna and will give insight into the processes-such as continental drift and over-water dispersal-that led to the current composition of the island fauna. These results will be compared with what is already known about other Madagascar animals such as lemurs and chameleons.Ants are an important component of the web of life. They participate in many crucial ecosystem processes such as predation, seed dispersal, soil turnover, and recycling of organic matter. As a result ants are sensitive indicators of environmental quality. A comprehensive database on the identity and distribution of ant species in Madagascar will provide critical information for setting conservation priorities in this endangered bioregion, and will facilitate the use of ants in ongoing monitoring and assessment. To ensure that data from MANDI are incorporated into current conservation efforts, formal relationships have been established with governmental agencies in Madagascar. The MANDI project will also result in the training of students, in both the United States and Madagascar, in the fields of systematics, conservation and biodiversity research. The AntWeb site will provide an innovative model for disseminating information about the rich diversity of insect life on planet Earth.