PIRE: Genetics of Invasive Species Exchanged Between the Southeastern U.S. and China, Taiwan and Hong Kong

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OISE-0730218 (Mauricio; University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc.)PIRE: Genetics of Invasive Species Exchanged Between the Southeastern U.S. and China, Taiwan and Hong KongABSTRACTWith the rise of global commerce and with remarkable biogeographic similarities, southeastern Asia and the southeastern United States have become a major conduit for exchange of species that have become invasive in their respective introduced habitats. Such biological invasions represent a pressing conservation problem across the globe. Population genetics can provide a powerful forensic tool for understanding the geographic distribution of invasive species, including the history of invasion and the likely sites of origin within the native range. Since it is difficult to move potentially invasive species between countries, the PIRE program allows us to establish a collaboration among researchers in the U.S., China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Through a partnership between the University of Georgia, Georgia Southern University, the USDA-Southern Research Station, Nanjing University, Nanjing Forestry University, Taiwan National University, Academia Sinica, the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, this award supports research to provide a robust phylogeographic and demographic baseline for ten target plant and pathogen species: half native to southeastern Asia and invasive in the U.S. and half native to the southeastern U.S. and invasive in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.In support of PIRE goals to build a robust and sustainable international partnership and to develop a diverse, globally-engaged U.S. science and engineering workforce, this PIRE program will implement a multi-tiered program to develop a generation of students and faculty committed to continuing work on invasive species in the U.S. and China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The grant combines an undergraduate study abroad experience and a graduate training program to establish a multi-tiered pipeline development program. The program gets undergraduates prepared and excited about Asia by introducing them to Chinese language and culture, then completing field and laboratory work in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Those undergraduates are encouraged to enter doctoral programs in the life sciences. Graduate students enter the pipeline and are given the language and research tools to conduct work in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Postdocs and faculty enter the pipeline last, but the PIRE program provides them with the contacts to initiate and continue collaborations with international partners. Outreach to the community and K-12 schools in the U.S. and abroad is a key component of the program.This project is co-funded with the Division of Environmental Biology in the Directorate for Biological Sciences.