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

加勒比地区是众所周知的生物多样性热点，但在这些岛屿上产生如此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团队，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，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，以及扩散与地质陆桥在岛屿殖民中的作用。这将通过调查15个不同的蜘蛛类谱系及其化石亲属，并通过使用系统发育方法来分析进化关系的模式、分化的年龄和跨岛屿的群落组成模式来实现。横跨世界上生物资源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聘和培训年轻的多样性专家，重点是为少数族裔服务的波多黎各大学。这些年轻的生物学家将接受培训，了解教育公众了解生物多样性的重要性。这项工作将通过互联网和博物馆保管库公开提供物种数据、系统发育、分布图、标本照片、数据库和DNA样本数据，从而为进一步的生物多样性研究创造丰富的资源。

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 how 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 young 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.