Collaborative Research: Tardigrades of the LTER sites: A Framework for the Distribution and Phylogeny of North American Tardigrada

该项目将通过贝克大学、弗雷斯诺城市学院和杨百翰大学的新本科研究项目，极大地增加我们对缓步动物门的生态学、生物多样性和生殖发育的了解。这些小组将通过在长期生态研究（LTER）地点收集缓步动物来对北美进行生物调查。学生研究人员将接受培训，以收集，识别，序列，并报告缓步动物。他们的研究结果将发表在同行评议的期刊上，并可通过自然科学院缓步动物参考中心（TRC）的互联网获得，包括密钥，描述，图像，DNA序列和分布图。 该项目将发现新物种，扩大大陆多样性，并将DNA序列与凭证标本联系起来，以确定缓步动物的物种关联，分布模式和遗传变异。 真相与和解委员会将针对使用互联网查找数据、事实和教学活动的科学家、教育工作者和业余爱好者。该项目模拟了本科生，研究和博物馆社区之间的合作。它还促进了专家之间的沟通，并展示了形态学和分子方法的物种识别的融合。 该项目将使许多学生接触科学探究，以便他们为科学，教育和政府的职业生涯做好准备。

This project will dramatically increase our knowledge of the ecology, biodiversity, and phylogeny of the phylum tardigrada through new undergraduate research programs at Baker University, Fresno City College, and Brigham Young University. The teams will conduct a biotic survey of North America by collecting tardigrades at the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites. Student researchers will be trained to collect, identify, sequence, and report on tardigrades. Their results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and available over the internet on the Tardigrade Reference Center (TRC) at the Academy of Natural Sciences with keys, descriptions, images, DNA sequences, and distribution maps. The project will discover new species, expand the continental diversity, and link DNA sequences to voucher specimens, in order to ascertain species associations, distributional patterns, and genetic variation of the tardigrades. The TRC will target scientists, educators and hobbyists who use the Internet to find data, facts, and teaching activities. The project models the collaboration between the undergraduate, research, and museum communities. It also fosters communication among specialists, and demonstrates the blending of morphological and molecular approaches to species identification. The project will expose many students to scientific inquiry such that they will be prepared for careers in science, education, and government.