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

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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.