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、互助者和生态系统健康的关键组成部分发挥着至关重要的作用。尽管昆虫具有重要的意义，但对它们的研究仍然很少，这给我们理解昆虫生态学和进化的模式和过程带来了很大的限制。然而，蝴蝶是个例外，这要归功于数百年来欣赏它们的美丽和迷人生物学的收藏家和爱好者的努力。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群都多。然而，这些信息需要综合起来，放在进化的背景下，并提供给研究使用。该项目将通过重建大约18,800个所描述物种的进化史，并利用实地指南、社交媒体、收藏和其他来源汇编每个物种的生物信息数据库，从而实现这两个目标。所有这些信息都将通过一个网站向公众公布，目的是促进合成研究和比较研究。除了公众宣传和教育外，研究团队成员还将培训研究生和博士后研究人员进行系统学和生物信息学方面的培训。这个项目将产生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学。将使用分层方法来重建蝴蝶关系。为了创建一个强大的骨干系统发育图，在测序之前，将使用锚定浓缩从~1800个属中的每个样本物种中捕获大约500个座位。然后将从公共数据库和我们自己的测序工作中收集遗传数据，以包括剩余的已知物种，并完成系统发育。基于模型的推理将考察物种形成、灭绝、生物地理和特征进化的复杂性。现有的地点数据将从博物馆藏品、清单、公民科学监测网络和专家知识中收集，以使用综合的生命地图框架对物种分布进行建模。已经收集了一些群体和地区的物种特征数据，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，创建关于物种生活史、相互作用、生态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活地图在线平台提供，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。

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.