Collaborative Research: ButterflyNet--an integrative framework for comparative biology

合作研究：ButterflyNet——比较生物学的综合框架

• 批准号: 1541500
• 负责人: Akito Kawahara
• 金额: $ 124.95万
• 依托单位: University of Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1541500&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; ButterflyNet; integrative; framework

The world is crawling with insects, many of which play crucial roles as pollinators, prey, mutualists, and critical components of ecosystem health. Despite their significance, insects remain understudied, imposing major limitations on our understanding of the patterns and processes in insect ecology and evolution. Butterflies are the exception, however, thanks to the efforts of centuries of collectors and enthusiasts who have appreciated their beauty and fascinating biology. More is known about their morphology, species distributions, behavior, and larval resources than any other insect group. However, this information needs to be synthesized, placed in an evolutionary context, and made available for research. This project will achieve these two goals by reconstructing the evolutionary history of the approximately 18,800 described species and assembling a database of biological information about each species using field guides, social media, collections, and other sources. All of this information will be made available to the public via a website with the goal of catalyzing synthetic research and comparative studies. In addition to public outreach and education, the members of the research team will train graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in systematics and bioinformatics.This project will produce a set of online tools and databases for comparative studies of butterflies. At the heart of the project is the assembly of a molecular phylogeny incorporating all known butterfly species. A hierarchical approach will be used to reconstruct butterfly relationships. To create a robust backbone phylogeny, approximately 500 loci will be captured from a single exemplar species from within each of the ~1,800 genera using anchored enrichment prior to sequencing. Genetic data from public databases and from our own sequencing efforts will then be collected to include remaining known species and complete the phylogeny. Model-based inference will examine the complexity of speciation, extinction, biogeography, and trait evolution. Existing locality data will be assembled from museum collections, inventories, citizen science monitoring networks, and expert knowledge to model species distributions using the integrative Map of Life framework. Species trait data have already been assembled for some groups and regions, but this project will create a consistent, harmonized trait database while also closing major gaps to create a globally comprehensive compilation of trait data on species life history, interactions, ecology, and distributions. All of these data layers will be made available through the Map of Life online platform, thus delivering community vetted and curated data and tools to catalyze comparative research.

世界上到处都是昆虫，其中许多昆虫作为传粉者、猎物、互利共生者和生态系统健康的重要组成部分发挥着至关重要的作用。尽管昆虫具有重要意义，但人们对其的研究仍然不足，这对我们对昆虫生态和进化的模式和过程的理解造成了重大限制。然而，蝴蝶是个例外，这要归功于几个世纪以来收藏家和爱好者的努力，他们欣赏它们的美丽和迷人的生物学特性。人们对它们的形态、物种分布、行为和幼虫资源的了解比任何其他昆虫类群都多。然而，这些信息需要综合起来，置于进化背景中，并可供研究使用。该项目将通过重建大约 18,800 个所描述物种的进化历史，并利用实地指南、社交媒体、馆藏和其他来源组装每个物种的生物信息数据库来实现这两个目标。所有这些信息将通过网站向公众提供，目的是促进综合研究和比较研究。除了公共宣传和教育之外，研究团队的成员还将培训系统学和生物信息学方面的研究生和博士后研究人员。该项目将制作一套用于蝴蝶比较研究的在线工具和数据库。该项目的核心是整合所有已知蝴蝶物种的分子系统发育。将使用分层方法来重建蝴蝶关系。为了创建强大的主干系统发育，将在测序前使用锚定富集从约 1,800 个属中的每个属的单个示例物种中捕获约 500 个基因座。然后将收集来自公共数据库和我们自己的测序工作的遗传数据，以包括剩余的已知物种并完成系统发育。基于模型的推理将检查物种形成、灭绝、生物地理学和性状进化的复杂性。现有的地点数据将从博物馆藏品、库存、公民科学监测网络和专家知识中汇总，以使用综合生命地图框架来模拟物种分布。一些群体和地区的物种性状数据已经收集完毕，但该项目将创建一个一致、协调的性状数据库，同时缩小主要差距，以创建关于物种生活史、相互作用、生态和分布的性状数据的全球综合汇编。所有这些数据层都将通过生命地图在线平台提供，从而提供经过社区审查和策划的数据和工具，以促进比较研究。