Historical Climate Change and Prediction of Endemism in the Central Corridor of the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest

物种和遗传多样性特别高或独特的地区，被称为生物多样性热点，是特别令人关注的保护问题，但还不够广为人知，无法进行有效的保护规划。该项目将通过开发和测试一种预测物种和遗传多样性的新的综合程序，既促进系统地理学领域的发展，又为保护规划做出贡献。具体地说，这项研究将结合遥感、地理信息技术、环境生态位建模、分子遗传学以及野外和博物馆信息来生成过去生境和物种分布的模型，并将测试这些模型预测当代生物多样性模式的能力，包括生物多样性热点的位置。这项研究将研究巴西大西洋森林中央走廊的两栖和爬行动物，以检验该地区在第四纪晚期极端气候期间作为森林物种的主要避难所的假设，从而产生独特的局部多样性和高度的区域多样性。这项工作需要对12个森林地点进行动物群调查，并对9个物种进行详细的遗传分析。这项研究将产生关于分子和分类多样性的新信息。巴西大西洋森林地区森林砍伐率高，动物区系描述不佳，因此，结果不仅将测试一种预测具有独特价值的物种和遗传多样性的新方法，还将为区域保护规划提供参考。该项目通过对学生和博士后的跨国培训，加强巴西和美国的生物收藏，以及现场、实验室和分析工作的合作，扩大了与巴西大学的科学联系。国内讲习班将使当地保护非政府组织参与，以最大限度地发挥对区域保护规划工作的影响，同时通过具体项目的网站实现更广泛的公众宣传。该项目由环境生物学分部和国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。

Areas of especially high or unique species and genetic diversity, referred to as ?biodiversity hotspots?, are of particular concern for conservation, but are not sufficiently well-known for effective conservation planning. This project will both advance the field of phylogeography and contribute to conservation planning, through development and testing of a novel integrative procedure for predicting species and genetic diversity. Specifically, the research will combine remote sensing, geographic information technology, environmental niche modeling, molecular genetics, and field and museum information to generate models of past distributions of habitats and species and will test the ability of these models to predict contemporary patterns of biodiversity, including locations of biodiversity hot-spots. The research will examine the amphibians and reptiles of the central corridor of the Brazilian Atlantic forest to test the hypothesis that this area functioned as a major refuge for forest species during extreme climates of the late Quaternary, thereby producing areas of unique local diversity and high overall regional diversity. The work entails faunal surveys at 12 forest sites and detailed genetic analyses of 9 species. This research will generate novel information about molecular and taxonomic diversity. The Brazilian Atlantic forest region has high rates of deforestation and a poorly described fauna, so the results not only will test a new method for predicting sites of uniquely valuable species and genetic diversity, but also will inform regional conservation planning. The project extends scientific linkages with Brazilian universities through cross-country training of students and postdocs, enhancement of biotic collections in Brazil and the US, and collaborative field, lab, and analytical work. In-country workshops will engage local conservation NGOs to maximize impact on regional conservation planning efforts, while broader public outreach is achieved through a project-specific website. The project is co-funded by Division of Environmental Biology and Office of International Science and Engineering.