PEET: Sea Cucumbers on Coral Reefs: Systematics of Aspidochirotid Holothurians

摘要珊瑚礁是海洋生物多样性最大的栖息地，也是最容易受到人为干扰的海洋栖息地。就连珊瑚礁生物多样性的数量级也鲜为人知，但富营养化、过度捕捞和全球变暖威胁着珊瑚礁生态系统的生存。因此，记录珊瑚礁生物多样性是最紧迫的，这样就可以获得关于珊瑚礁生物群的多样性、分布和生态作用的基线信息，从而可以比较未来的变化，并做出管理和保护决策。海参是最不为人所知的大型海洋无脊椎动物之一，尤其是在珊瑚礁上。然而，海参是珊瑚礁上最常见和最多样化的大型无脊椎动物之一，也是珊瑚礁碎屑食物网的基石。可能还有许多物种未被发现，正如所描述的那样。我们对这些引人注目的大型动物的了解落后于许多其他群体，部分原因是很少有科学家专门研究它们，而大多数研究它们的科学家都接近或已过退休年龄。该提案的重点是大型蜘蛛，它们在一个价值数百万美元的廉价工业中被收获，并作为美食在亚洲市场出售。随着亚洲经济的增长，对海水的需求也在增加，过度捕捞在大部分热带地区已经成为现实或迫在眉睫的威胁。该项目的目标是通过大规模、协作的系统发育努力、修订和培训，极大地提高我们对海参的认识。三名研究生和几名本科生将接受现代系统学的培训，并从事全息图的研究。PEET学员，pi将与其他海参专家合作，共同记录海参多样性的大部分。将修订渔民优先针对的三个主要群体（Stichopodidae， Bohadschia和放线藻，共约110种）。将建立一个网站，其中包括所有蛛形纲动物的综合数据库，包括所有原始描述和数字的副本、最新的同义词和分类、物种页面、交互式密钥、图像库、地理信息系统地图和海参分类学文献的pdf文件。该小组将利用分子和形态学方法建立一个强大的蛭形虫系统发育，并探索关于它们的进化、生态学、生物地理学和生物学的假设。系统发生学和修订版将用于解决有关主要生物转变（热带-温带、浅层-深层、礁外-礁带之间）、海洋物种形成模式以及海螺形态和生态的演变等问题。系统发育方法也将有助于描绘物种复合体和确定种群的地理限制。对生物区系的分类理解是研究生态学、保护和管理巨型多样性生态系统（如珊瑚礁）的必要基础。了解海参的物种分类将有助于渔业管理，特别是在一些被捕捞的分类群处于未解决的物种复群中，以及对种群限制知之甚少的情况下。丰富的照片和其他文件将引起潜水员、博物学家、渔民和其他人对这些动物的关注和研究。

AbstractCoral reefs harbor the greatest diversity of marine life and are the most vulnerable marine habitats to human disturbances. Even the order of magnitude of reef biodiversity is poorly known, yet eutrophication, overfishing, and global warming threaten the very existence of reef ecosystems. Documenting reef biodiversity is thus of the utmost urgency, so that baseline information becomes available about the diversity, distribution, and ecological roles of reef biota, against which future changes can be compared, and management and conservation decisions made. Sea cucumbers are among the most poorly known large marine invertebrates, especially on coral reefs. Yet sea cucumbers are among the most common and diverse large invertebrates on reefs, and a cornerstone of reef detrital food webs. Likely as many species remain undiscovered as have been described. Our knowledge of these striking, large animals lags behind that of many other groups partly because few scientists specialize on them and most that do are near or past retirement age. Large aspidochirotids, the focus of this proposal, are harvested in a multimillion-dollar beche-de-mer industry and sold as a gourmet food item in Asian markets. As Asian economies grow, demand for beche-de-mer is increasing and overfishing is a reality or an imminent threat in much of the tropics.The objective of this project is to greatly improve our understanding of sea cucumbers through large-scale, collaborative phylogenetic efforts, revisions, and training. Three graduate and several undergraduate students will be trained in modern systematics and pursue research on holothurians. PEET trainees, PIs will work with other holothurian specialists to collaboratively document a large portion of sea cucumber diversity. Three major groups preferentially targeted by fishers (Stichopodidae, Bohadschia and Actinopyga, comprising ca. 110 species) will be revised. A web site will be developed to include a comprehensive database of all aspidochirotids, including copies of all original descriptions and figures, updated synonymies and lassification, species pages, interactive keys, image libraries, GIS maps, and pdfs of the taxonomic literature on sea cucumbers. The group will develop a robust phylogeny of aspidochirotids using molecular and morphological approaches, and explore hypotheses about their evolution, ecology, biogeography, and biology. Phylogenies and revisions will be used to address questions about major biotic transitions (between tropical - temperate, shallow - deep, off reef - reef zones), patterns of marine speciation, and evolution of holothurian morphology and ecology. The phylogenetic approach will also help delineate species complexes and identify geographic limits of stocks. Having a taxonomic understanding of the biota is essential foundation for work on the ecology, conservation, and management of megadiversity ecosystems like coral reefs. Understanding the species-level taxonomy of sea cucumbers will facilitate efforts to manage fisheries, especially as several fished taxa are in unresolved species complexes, and stock limits are poorly understood. The abundant photographic and other documentation will foster attention and study of these animals by divers, naturalists, fisherman, and others.