DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Niche differentiation among cryptic moss species

世界生物多样性的很大一部分是由形态上与其他物种难以区分的物种(即“神秘物种”)组成的。维护和保护全球多样性的努力取决于对这些神秘物种如何以及为什么进化和共存的理解。在这个项目中，我们将利用苔藓属植物来研究神秘物种如何在加利福尼亚州的陆地/水生环境梯度上共存。将收集样本，并对他们的两个基因进行测序，以确定他们的身份。将对为每个标本收集的生态数据进行分析，以确定所涉及的物种相对于彼此和环境的分布情况。苔藓在北纬地区的碳循环、热带地区的水循环以及沙漠中生物土壤结皮的成分中发挥着重要作用。尽管它们的多样性和重要性，苔藓仍然是一个鲜为人知的有机体群体。在将进行这项研究的加利福尼亚州，尽管土地开发继续减少当前和未来多样性所需的栖息地数量，但新的分类群仍在继续被发现。这项研究中捕获的精细生态数据将有助于理解维持当前和未来物种多样性所需的进化过程和要求。

A substantial fraction of the world's biodiversity is made up of species that are morphologically indistinguishable from other species (i.e. "cryptic species"). Efforts to preserve and protect global diversity rely on an understanding of how and why these cryptic species evolve and coexist. In this project, the moss genus Scleropodium will be used to examine how cryptic species coexist along a terrestrial/aquatic environmental gradient in California. Specimens will be collected and two of their genes will be sequenced to determine their identity. Ecological data collected for each specimen will be analyzed to determine how the species in question are distributed relative to each other and to the environment. Mosses perform important roles in carbon cycling in the northern latitudes, in water cycling in the tropics, and as constituents of biotic soil crusts in deserts. Despite their diversity and importance, mosses remain a poorly understood group of organisms. In California where this study will take place, new taxa continue to be discovered even as land development continues to reduce the amount of habitat necessary for current and future diversity. The fine scale ecological data captured in this study will prove useful in understanding the evolutionary processes and requirements necessary for maintenance of current and future species diversity.