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

无板纲是一种无壳、蠕虫状的海洋软体动物。虽然无板动物在潮间带深处并不常见（因此甚至对许多动物学家来说都不熟悉），但它们是深海群落中数量丰富且具有重要生态意义的成员。大约有400个物种已经被命名，但据估计还有十倍以上的物种等待发现。无板动物是进化生物学家感兴趣的，因为无板动物沿着与石鳖形成所有其他软体动物的姐妹群，这是第二个物种丰富的动物门，并展示了一些动物王国中最显着不同的身体计划。不幸的是，近年来，随着三位世界专家的去世，从事这一研究不足的群体的分类学家人数大幅下降。该项目将通过培训新一代科学家来恢复美国的无板动物生物多样性和系统学研究，并回答有关这些未充分研究的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讲习班，每个讲习班为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和他的实验室将在亚拉巴马中学演讲，并在亚拉巴马自然历史博物馆举办博物馆展览。本项目的目的是通过结合传统方法和最新技术，培养下一代的无脊椎动物系统学家，培养掌握多种分类单元和技术的无脊椎动物系统学家，为无脊椎动物的生物多样性和系统分类学研究带来革命性的变化。PI和他的实验室将鉴定数千个标本，描述50个新物种，描述特别多样化和研究不足地区的动物群，为需要修订的精选分类群撰写专著，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-所有来自同一标本。此外，第一个无板动物基因组将被测序，使目标捕获基因组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。使用这些数据，aplacophoran的遗传学将被推断，使可能的修订分类，准确地反映了组？的进化历史以及关键性状的祖先状态重建（无板动物+石鳖），和软体动物作为一个整体。这个项目是联合支持之间的环境生物学司（系统学和生物多样性科学组）该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值进行评估，被认为值得支持和更广泛的影响审查标准。

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.