Survey of the Insects in Ghana with Systematic Studies on Spider Beetles and Dung Beetles

加纳昆虫调查及对蜘蛛甲虫和粪甲虫的系统研究

• 批准号: 0430132
• 负责人: Keith Philips
• 金额: $ 40.26万
• 依托单位: Western Kentucky University Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-09-01 至 2008-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0430132&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Survey; Insects; Ghana; Systematic; Studies

NSF Proposal DEB-0430132Philips A survey of the insects of the Upper Guinean Forestsin Ghana with systematic studies on spider beetles and dung beetles The Upper West African Guinean forests are considered one of 25 biodiversityhotspots in the world and are a vital refuge and region of high speciesendemicity. Knowledge of insect diversity in this habitat is poor relative tothat found in other threatened areas in the tropics. There is extreme urgencyfor an insect survey in the Upper Guinean forests because this ecosystem is morethreatened and is disappearing more quickly than most other global hotspots.Severe pressure on these forests results from some of the highest humanpopulation growth rates, most intensive logging, and rampant bushmeat huntingfound anywhere in the world. The main goals of this project are: 1) to conductan intensive survey of insects in the Guinean forests of Ghana and twoadditional areas in savannah and sub-sahalian regions, using a wide variety ofcollecting techniques, resulting in the collection of a large diversity ofinvertebrate groups previously unavailable to systematists; 2) to develop andrehabilitate a host country authoritative reference collection thereby creatinga national insect collection and integrating it into the global systematicscommunity; 3) to educate and train students and collaborate with scientists fromGhana (University of Ghana (Legon), Centre for Scientific and IndustrialResearch, and The Ghana Wildlife Society) and students from Western KentuckyUniversity on insect sampling techniques, biodiversity studies, and insectcuration providing much needed scientific systematic expertise in Ghana; 4) topartner with The Ghana Wildlife Society and other organizations and individualsby providing web accessible databases with identification keys and images ofspider beetles and dung beetles and all available biological information on thegroup. The intellectual merit of this proposal is to ultimately better understandthe biodiversity of these poorly studied and highly threatened forests byproviding large numbers insect samples for study to improve insect taxonomy andclassifications, the cornerstone of biology, while they still exist. This workwill also result in knowledge on the diversity and evolution of two main targetgroups: 1) the spider beetles which are arguably the most poorly known group ofAfrican beetles, and 2) the dung beetles that are still very poorly known andstudied. The latter group is also ecologically unstudied in this region and isof great interest because of the complex communities and behaviors exhibited.They are also indicative of ecosystem health and hence extremely useful toconservation organizations. The broader impacts include a better understandingof African tropical forest biodiversity, its evolution, ecology, andbiogeography. Additionally, the vital aspect of student training, developing asystematics infrastructure in Ghana, partnering with the primary conservationagency in this country, and creating web accessible information on insects willlead to better education of citizens of Ghana and the United States andhopefully protection of the irreplaceable natural heritage of biodiversity inthe Upper Guinean forests of West Africa.

美国国家科学基金会建议DEB-0430132飞利浦加纳上几内亚森林昆虫调查及蜘蛛甲虫和粪甲虫的系统研究 上西非几内亚森林被认为是世界上25个生物多样性热点之一，是一个重要的避难所和物种特有性高的地区。 相对于在热带其他受威胁地区发现的昆虫多样性，对这一栖息地昆虫多样性的了解很少。 上几内亚森林的昆虫调查迫在眉睫，因为这一生态系统比其他大多数全球热点地区受到的威胁更大，消失的速度也更快。人口增长率最高的地区、最密集的伐木和猖獗的肉食狩猎给这些森林造成了严重的压力。 该项目的主要目标是：1）在加纳的几内亚森林和另外两个地区的萨凡纳草原和撒哈拉以南地区进行深入的昆虫调查，使用各种各样的采集技术，从而收集到以前系统学家无法收集到的大量脊椎动物类群;（2）发展和更新东道国权威的参考文献库，从而建立国家昆虫库，并使之融入全球系统分类学界; 3）教育和培训学生，并与加纳科学家合作（加纳大学（Legon）、科学和工业研究中心和加纳野生动物学会）与西布基纳法索大学的学生就昆虫取样技术、生物多样性研究和昆虫管理进行了交流，为加纳提供了急需的科学系统专门知识; 4）与加纳野生动物协会和其他组织和个人合作，提供可通过网络访问的数据库，其中包含蜘蛛甲虫和蜣螂的识别键和图像以及所有可用的生物信息。 这一建议的智力价值在于，通过提供大量昆虫样本进行研究，以改进昆虫分类和分类，最终更好地了解这些研究不足和高度威胁的森林的生物多样性，而昆虫分类和分类是生物学的基石，而它们仍然存在。 这项工作还将导致对两个主要目标群体的多样性和进化的了解：1）蜘蛛甲虫，这可以说是非洲甲虫中最鲜为人知的群体，2）仍然知之甚少的粪甲虫。 后一个群体在该地区的生态学上也未经研究，但由于其表现出的复杂群落和行为而引起了人们的极大兴趣。它们也表明生态系统的健康，因此对保护组织非常有用。 更广泛的影响包括更好地了解非洲热带森林生物多样性，其演变，生态学和地理学。 此外，学生培训的重要方面，在加纳发展系统基础设施，与这个国家的主要保护机构合作，并创建关于昆虫的网络访问信息，将导致加纳和美国公民更好的教育，并有望保护西非上几内亚森林中不可替代的生物多样性自然遗产。