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

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关键组成部分发挥着重要作用。尽管昆虫具有重要意义，但它们仍然没有得到充分的研究，这对我们理解昆虫生态学和进化的模式和过程造成了重大限制。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，他们欣赏蝴蝶的美丽和迷人的生物学。对它们的形态、种类分布、行为和幼虫资源的了解比任何其他昆虫类群都要多。然而，这些信息需要进行综合，置于进化背景下，并可用于研究。该项目将通过重建约18，800个描述物种的进化历史，并使用现场指南，社交媒体，收藏品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一个网站向公众提供，目的是促进合成研究和比较研究。除了公共宣传和教育外，研究小组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，该项目将为蝴蝶的比较研究提供一套在线工具和数据库。该项目的核心是将所有已知的蝴蝶物种整合在一起。将使用分层方法来重建蝴蝶关系。为了产生稳健的骨架同源性，在测序之前使用锚定富集从来自约1，800个属中的每一个属的单个示例物种捕获约500个基因座。然后将收集来自公共数据库和我们自己测序工作的遗传数据，以包括剩余的已知物种并完成遗传学。基于模型的推理将研究物种形成，灭绝，地理学和特征进化的复杂性。现有的地方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收集，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特征数据已经收集完毕，但该项目将创建一个一致、协调的特征数据库，同时缩小主要差距，创建一个关于物种生活史、相互作用、生态学和分布的全球综合特征数据汇编。所有这些数据层都将通过生命地图在线平台提供，从而提供社区审查和策划的数据和工具，以促进比较研究。

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.