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，然而，在这些岛屿上产生这种丰富物种多样性的详细过程是复杂的，人们对其知之甚少。这个项目联合了一个国际专家小组来测试关于不同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。这项研究还将检验岛屿作为大陆殖民化来源的重要性，以及岛屿殖民化中分散与地质陆桥的作用。这项工作将通过调查15种不同的蛛形纲动物谱系及其化石亲属，并利用系统发育方法分析岛屿上进化关系的模式、分化的年龄和群落组成的模式来完成。横跨世界上生物最丰富的群岛之一的巨型横断面将改变人们对加勒比海历史的认识。许多新科学家将接受培训——该项目将在多个机构招募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培训，了解向公众宣传生物多样性的重要性。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、系统发育、范围图、标本照片、数据库和DNA样本数据可以通过互联网和博物馆的储存库公开获取。

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.