Research Starter Grant: Island-Net (Phase I): a Web-Accessible Ecological Database for the Study of Global Taxonomic and Environmental Data on Islands

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The study of biodiversity on islands has led to some of the most fundamental tenets of ecology and evolutionary biology. The Caribbean islands are one of the most well studied insular regions in the world and consequently are the logical starting point in the development of a global island database. The main objective of the research proposed here is to develop a web-accessible geodatabase integrating taxonomic and environmental data for the Caribbean Islands to explore factors regulating biodiversity on this important island system. The Caribbean project will serve as the first step in a larger research plan designed to integrate taxonomic and environmental data from island systems world-wide to explore the fundamental factors regulating biodiversity. The primary objective is to develop a Caribbean Island ecological database using data from Anolis lizards to facilitate the design and implementation of the database. Morphological and locality data for approximately 140 Anolis species will be linked to a GIS coverage database, which will be accessible online through a web interface. This work will advance understanding of the influence of regional environmental factors on species diversity while incorporating a strong educational component through web-based dissemination of data and an associated laboratory manual for coursework and student education.