SG: ARTS: Hawaiian Philodoria green-island leaf mining moths: Revisionary systematics, phylogenetics and biogeography of a threatened fauna

衰老和组织死亡是植物生长的正常部分，但一种食叶蛾（Philodoria）已经发展出一种非凡的生活史策略：它的幼虫可以延缓植物组织的衰老，从而使蛾子在食物资源有限的情况下具有适应性优势。这种现象帮助昆虫实现了非凡的局部多样性，并成为岛屿生态系统的主要组成部分。人们对这一非凡的过程知之甚少，但它有可能改变广泛的生物过程，并增加对昆虫和植物之间相互作用的理解。该项目将建立一个系统的框架，整合分子和形态数据，以修订飞蛾的分类和测试关于飞蛾进化、生物地理和多样化的假设。在全球自然资源日益减少的时候，教育下一代生物学家至关重要。项目参与者将通过研讨会向公众宣传生物多样性的重要性，项目负责人将培训不同层次的学生（研究生、本科生和高中生）。学生，包括少数民族和代表性不足的学生，将参与实地考察，并通过社交媒体广泛传播信息。该项目将提高公众对保护岛屿特有生物多样性的必要性的认识，包括这些对园艺和农业很重要的植物-昆虫相互作用。

Aging and tissue death is a normal part of plant growth, but a leaf-feeding moth (Philodoria) has developed an extraordinary life-history strategy: its larvae can delay plant tissue from aging thereby giving the moth an adaptive advantage when food resources are limiting. This phenomenon has helped the insects achieve extraordinary localized diversity and become a major component of island ecosystems. This remarkable process is little understood, but has the potential to transform a broad spectrum of biological processes and increase understanding of the interactions between insects and plants. This project will generate a systematic framework, integrating molecular and morphological data, to revise the taxonomy and test hypotheses on the moth evolution, biogeography, and diversification. Educating the next generation of biologists is essential at a time when global natural resources are diminishing. Project participants will teach the importance of biodiversity to the public through workshops and the PIs will train students of many levels (graduate students, undergraduates and high school students). Students, including minority and underrepresented students, will participate in fieldwork and disseminate information broadly via social media. This project will increase public awareness of the need to conserve endemic island biodiversity, including these plant-insect interactions that are important to horticulture and agriculture.