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

placophora是一种多样化的无壳、蠕虫状的海洋软体动物。虽然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不熟悉的），但它们数量众多，在深海群落中具有重要的生态意义。大约有400个物种已经被命名，但据估计还有十多倍的物种有待发现。进化生物学家对placophora很感兴趣，因为placophora和石鳖是所有其他软体动物的姐妹群，软体动物是物种第二丰富的动物门，在动物王国中展示了一些最不同的身体结构。不幸的是，近年来，由于三位世界专家去世，研究这个已经被充分研究的群体的分类学家的数量大幅减少。这个项目将通过培训新一代的科学家，在美国恢复对placophora生物多样性和系统学的研究，并回答有关这些未被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名职业生涯早期的无脊椎动物系统学家提供培训，同时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演讲，并在阿拉巴马州自然历史博物馆举办一个博物馆展览。总的来说，这项工作将提供地球上生命多样性的基本信息，这对保护、生态学和进化生物学领域至关重要。该项目的目标是利用传统和前沿方法的结合，彻底改变placophora生物多样性和系统学的研究，同时培养下一代无脊椎动物系统学家对不同的分类群和技术。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的地区的动物群，为需要修订的分类群撰写专著，并开发一个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、微型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，将对第一个placophoran基因组进行测序，使目标捕获系统基因组学能够从广泛跨越该群体多样性的物种中取样数百个分子标记。利用这些数据，将推断出无齿龙的系统发育，从而使准确反映该群体的修订分类成为可能。(3)研究了单足动物、棘足动物（单足动物+石鳖）和软体动物整体的进化史和主要特征的祖先状态重建。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。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.