Weevils of Sonora: Discovering species distributions and historical patterns of symbiont associations

该项目解决了我们对美国西南部及其邻近地区昆虫生物多样性的理解中的一个空白。墨西哥的索诺拉州与亚利桑那州有着375英里长的边界，拥有大量的昆虫动物多样性，但人们对它的了解仍然很少。就象鼻虫超家族的甲虫而言，只有不到100个物种被记录在案，但预计索诺拉将出现近1,000个物种--其中许多是科学上的新物种。象鼻虫在经济上很重要;数千种象鼻虫对生态系统的影响要么有害（作物害虫），要么有益（生物防治）。该项目将在亚利桑那州立大学和两所墨西哥大学的研究人员和学生之间建立一种新的合作关系，目标是对索诺拉象鼻虫的多样性进行彻底取样，并将结果公布在一个动态的、可公开访问的在线清单上。关于象鼻虫多样性的演变及其与肠道栖息细菌和宿主植物饮食的关系的长期问题也将得到解决。该项目将指导两名博士生和本科生学习现代系统学和生物多样性数据科学的概念和方法。一个多方面的教育和推广计划将包括创建一个基于抽认卡的K-3教科书，关于区域昆虫多样性和功能性自然历史。该项目包括一个广泛的实地工作和收集策展组成部分，预计将产生至少5,000个独特的物种/地点的象鼻虫（鞘翅目：象鼻虫总科）的研究标本实例。从现场到数据传播的工作流程将受益于进一步改进共生群软件平台，并提供向外部期刊发布数据包的新选项。该清单将包括更新的分类名称，所有标本，物种分布图，寄主植物记录，图像，物种简介页，以及目前公认的索诺兰象鼻虫属的交互式识别键。一个结构良好的宏基因组测序研究的肠道内容物的100多个物种在八个目标象鼻虫谱系将确定其植物宿主和细菌共生体配置文件。该数据集将有助于发现众多的共生体分支，并测试新的假设，关于象鼻虫的相对影响，地理学，主机协会，和其他环境梯度上的象鼻虫'观察到的共生体profilesThis奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This project addresses a gap in our understanding of insect biodiversity within and adjacent to the southwestern United States. The Mexican State of Sonora shares a 375 miles-long border with Arizona, and has a large biodiversity of insect fauna that remains very poorly known. In the case of beetles in the weevil superfamily, less than 100 species have been documented, yet nearly 1,000 species - many of them new to science - are expected to occur in Sonora. Weevils are economically important; thousands of species have either detrimental (crop pest) or beneficial (biocontrol) ecosystem impacts. This project will create a new collaboration between researchers and students at Arizona State University and two Mexican universities, with the goal of thoroughly sampling the weevil diversity of Sonora and publishing the results in a dynamic and openly accessible on-line checklist. Longstanding questions about the evolution of weevil diversity, and its relationship to their gut-inhabiting bacteria and host plant diets, will also be addressed. The project will mentor two doctoral students and undergraduate students in the concepts and methods of modern systematics and biodiversity data science. A multi-faceted education and outreach program will include the creation of a flashcard-based K-3 textbook on regional insect diversity and functional natural history. The project includes an extensive field work and collection curation component, expected to yield at least 5,000 unique species/locality instances of research-ready specimens in the weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea). Field-to-data dissemination workflows will benefit from further improving the Symbiota software platform, with new options to publish data packages to external journals. The checklist will include updated taxonomic names, all specimens, species distribution maps, host plant records, images, species profile pages, and an interactive identification key to the Sonoran weevil genera as currently recognized. A well-structured metagenomics sequencing study of the gut content of more than 100 species in eight targeted weevil lineages will identify both their plant hosts and bacterial symbiont profiles. This dataset will facilitate the discovery of numerous symbiont clades, and test novel hypotheses regarding the relative impact of weevil phylogeny, biogeography, host associations, and other environmental gradients on the weevils' observed symbiont profilesThis award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.