Collaborative Research: The generation of a biodiversity hotspot: paleobiogeography of the Caribbean inferred from multiple arachnid lineages with differing dispersal abilities

加勒比地区是一个众所周知的生物多样性热点地区，但在岛屿上产生这种丰富的物种多样性的详细过程是复杂的，人们对此知之甚少。该项目联合了一个国际专家小组，以测试各种物种的年龄和扩散能力以及岛屿的地质历史如何相互作用以产生生物多样性热点的假设。这项研究还将测试岛屿作为大陆殖民来源的重要性，以及岛屿殖民中分散与地质陆桥的作用。这将通过调查15个不同的蛛形纲动物谱系和它们的化石亲属，并通过使用系统发育的方法来分析模式的进化关系，分歧的年龄，以及跨岛屿的社区组成模式。一个横跨世界上生物最丰富的群岛之一的巨型断面将改变加勒比海历史的知识。许多新的科学家将接受培训-该项目将在多个机构招聘和培训年轻的多样性专家，重点是为少数民族服务的波多黎各大学。这些生物学家将接受关于教育公众了解生物多样性的重要性的培训。这项工作将为进一步的生物多样性研究提供丰富的资源，使物种数据、物种起源、范围图、标本照片、数据库和DNA样本数据通过互联网和博物馆保藏公开。

The Caribbean region is a well-known hotspot of biological diversity, yet the detailed processes that generated this rich species diversity on the islands are complex and poorly understood. This project unites a team of international experts to test hypotheses about how the age and dispersal ability of various species, and the geological history of islands, interplay to generate biodiversity hotspots. The research will also test the importance of islands as sources of continental colonization, and the role of dispersal versus geological land-bridges in island colonization. This will be accomplished by surveying 15 diverse arachnid lineages and their fossil relatives, and by using phylogenetic approaches to analyze patterns of evolutionary relationships, ages of divergence, and patterns of community composition across islands. A mega-transect across one of the world's most biologically rich archipelagos will transform knowledge of the history of the Caribbean. Many new scientists will be trained -- the project will recruit and train young diversity specialists at multiple institutions, with the central focus at the minority-serving University of Puerto Rico. These biologists will be trained in the importance of educating the public about biodiversity. The work will generate rich resources for further biodiversity research by making species data, phylogenies, range maps, specimen photographs, databases, and DNA sample data publicly available through the internet and museum depositories.