Dissertation Research: Sources of Neotropical Bat Diversity: Have Cave-Rich Areas Been Centers of Cave-Bat Speciation?

面对即将到来的全球生物多样性危机，了解生物多样性的起源和维持所涉及的自然过程是实现保护地球遗传资源和生态稳定目标的关键一步。拉丁美洲是地球上生物物种最丰富的地区之一，也是栖息地破坏率最高的地区之一，旨在确定多样性起源的研究一直很广泛，但解释仍然存在争议。更新世避难所假说是历史上最有力的假说之一，它认为高降雨量的地区是生物物种进化和保存的中心，最近受到了丰富的古生态学数据的挑战。因此，目前以湿地为重点的保护生物多样性战略的有效性受到怀疑。这个项目将测试另一种假设，即地质复杂性高的地区是物种起源的重要中心，至少在哺乳动物的情况下。这项研究将使用漏斗耳蝙蝠家族（Natalidae）作为模型组，因为这些动物是新世界热带地区最广泛的哺乳动物群体之一，依赖于地貌表面特征（洞穴，裂缝）生存。一个强大的重建Natalidae的进化历史（进化史）将测试是否这个蝙蝠家族的进化已被捆绑到历史上的可用性和分布的洞穴在新的世界热带地区，使得有可能，反过来，以测试是否在表面地质高度复杂的地区已作为这些蝙蝠的物种形成中心。通过比较保存在美国和拉丁美洲博物馆中的natalids物种的形态和遗传特征，推断出蝙蝠的发生。该项目将是第一个测试洞穴地区是否在新世界发挥蝙蝠物种形成中心的作用的项目，从而代表热带美洲物种多样性的潜在重要来源。如果这一假设得到我们的研究结果的支持，这项研究将对未来保护战略的设计产生重大影响，这些战略旨在保护拉丁美洲的生物进化中心，作为地球遗传财富的重要储存库。这项研究还将对理解洞穴地理学产生更广泛的影响，不仅在热带美洲，而且在世界上洞穴和洞穴动物丰富的其他地区。在地方范围内，它将检测可能面临灭绝风险的地理限制性漏斗耳蝙蝠物种，并将促进它们的保护，特别是那些进入经济重要地区并对农业害虫提供关键自然控制的物种。

In the face of an impending global biodiversity crisis, understanding the natural processes involved in the origin and maintenance of biological diversity is a crucial step toward the goal of preserving the genetic reservoirs and ecological stability of the planet. In Latin America, a region that combines the richest concentration of biological species and one of the highest rates of habitat destruction on earth, research aimed to identifying the origins of diversity has been extensive but the explanations have remained controversial. One the most historically powerful hypothesis, the "Pleistocene refugia hypothesis", which maintains that regions of high rainfall have functioned as centers of evolution and preservation of biological species, has been recently challenged by abundant paleoecological data. Therefore, the effectiveness of current conservation strategies with a focus on wet areas for the preservation of biodiversity has been cast into doubt. This project will t est the alternative hypothesis that regions of high geologic complexity have been important centers for the origin of species, at least in the case of mammals. The study will use the funnel-eared bat family (Natalidae) as a model group, given that these animals are among the most widespread mammal groups in the new world tropics that depend on geomorphologic surface features (caves, crevices) for their survival. A robust reconstruction of the evolutionary history (phylogeny) of Natalidae will test whether the evolution of this bat family has been tied to the historical availability and distribution of caves in the new world tropics, making possible, in turn, to test whether areas of high complexity in surface geology have functioned as centers of speciation for these bats. The phylogeny will be inferred by comparing morphological and genetic traits of species of natalids deposited in museum collections in the US and Latin America.This project will be the first to test whether cave regions have functioned as centers of bat speciation in the New World, thus representing potentially important sources of species diversity in tropical America. If this hypothesis is supported by our findings, this study will have a significant impact in the design of future conservation strategies aimed to protect centers of biological evolution in Latin America, as important repositories of the genetic wealth of the planet. The study will also have a broader impact in the understanding of cave biogeography in general, not only in tropical America but also in other regions of the world rich in caves and cave fauna. At a local scale, it will detect geographically restricted species of funnel-eared bats that may risk extinction and will promote their conservation, particularly of those that range into economically important areas and provide crucial natural control to agricultural pests.