CAREER: Revolutionizing Biodiversity and Systematics Research on Aplacophora (Mollusca) and Training the Next Generation of Invertebrate Systematists

无壳纲是一种多样化的无壳蠕虫状海洋软体动物。尽管它们在潮间带深处并不常见（因此甚至对许多动物学家来说也是陌生的），但无板虫是深海群落中数量丰富且具有重要生态意义的成员。大约 400 个物种已被命名，但据估计还有十倍以上的物种有待发现。进化生物学家对无叶目动物很感兴趣，因为无叶目动物与石鳖一起构成了所有其他软体动物门的姊妹类群，软体动物门是物种第二丰富的动物门，并且表现出动物王国中一些最截然不同的身体结构。不幸的是，近年来，随着三名世界专家的去世，从事这个已经得到充分研究的群体的分类学家数量大幅下降。该项目将通过培训新一代科学家，复兴美国的甲壳类生物多样性和系统学研究，并回答有关这些被研究动物的生物多样性和进化的基本问题。将举办三个分类学培训研讨会，每个研讨会为 10-15 名早期职业无脊椎动物系统学家提供培训，并收集本研究所需的标本。此外，PI 和他的实验室将在阿拉巴马州的中学发表演讲，并在阿拉巴马州自然历史博物馆举办博物馆展览。总而言之，这项工作将提供有关地球生命多样性的基本信息，这对于保护、生态和进化生物学领域至关重要。该项目的目标是结合传统和前沿方法，彻底改变无脊椎动物生物多样性和系统学的研究，同时培训下一代无脊椎动物分类群和技术的系统学家。 PI 和他的实验室将鉴定数千个标本，描述 50 个新物种，描述特别多样化和未充分研究地区的动物群特征，为需要修订的选定分类群撰写专着，并开发 DNA 条形码库以帮助未来的非专家。标本鉴定将采用一种新颖的工作流程，结合光学显微镜、显微 CT、扫描电子显微镜和 DNA 条形码 - 所有这些都来自同一标本。此外，第一个无板类基因组将被测序，使目标捕获系统发育学能够从广泛跨越该群体多样性的物种中采样数百个分子标记。利用这些数据，将推断无板类的系统发育，从而可以准确反映该群体的进化历史以及对无板类、Aculifera（无板类石鳖）和软体动物整体关键性状的祖先状态重建进行修订的分类。该项目由环境生物学部（系统学和生物多样性科学集群）和极地项目办公室共同支持。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Aplacophora is a diverse group of shell-less, worm-shaped marine molluscs. Although they are not common at intertidal depths (and are thus unfamiliar even to many zoologists), aplacophorans are abundant and ecologically important members of deep-sea communities. Around 400 species have been named, but it is estimated that tenfold more are awaiting discovery. Aplacophorans are of interest to evolutionary biologists because aplacophorans along with chitons form the sister group to all other Mollusca, which is the second most species-rich animal phylum and exhibits some of the most dramatically disparate body plans in the animal kingdom. Unfortunately, in recent years, the number of taxonomists working on this already understudied group has dropped significantly as three of the world experts have passed away. This project will resurrect aplacophoran biodiversity and systematics research in the United States through training of a new generation of scientists and answer fundamental questions about the biodiversity and evolution of these understudied animals. Three taxonomy training workshops will be held with each providing training for 10-15 early-career invertebrate systematists in conjunction with collection of specimens needed for this research. Further, the PI and his lab will speak in Alabama middle schools and develop a museum exhibit at the Alabama Museum of Natural History. Taken together, this work will provide fundamental information on the diversity of life on Earth, which is essential to the fields of conservation, ecology, and evolutionary biology.The goal of this project is to revolutionize the study of aplacophoran biodiversity and systematics using a combination of traditional and cutting-edge approaches while training the next generation of invertebrate systematists on diverse taxa and techniques. The PI and his lab will identify thousands of specimens, describe 50 new species, characterize the faunas of particularly diverse and understudied regions, write monographs for select taxa in need of revision, and develop a DNA barcode library to help future non-experts. Specimen identification will employ a novel workflow combining light microscopy, micro-CT, scanning electron microscopy, and DNA barcoding - all from the same specimen. Further, the first aplacophoran genomes will be sequenced, enabling target-capture phylogenomics to sample hundreds of molecular markers from species broadly spanning the diversity of the group. Using these data, aplacophoran phylogeny will be inferred, making possible a revised classification that accurately reflects the group?s evolutionary history as well as ancestral state reconstruction of key traits for Aplacophora, Aculifera (aplacophorans + chitons), and Mollusca as a whole.This project is jointly supported between the Division of Environmental Biology (Systematics and Biodiversity Sciences Cluster) and the Office of Polar Programs.This 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.