COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Phylogenomics, spatial phylogenetics and conservation prioritization in trapdoor spiders (and kin) of the California Floristic Province

加州植物区系省是一个全球生物多样性热点，从俄勒冈州西南部延伸到下加利福尼亚州西北部，拥有许多独特的动植物物种。许多因素，包括干旱和不断变化的火灾制度，对仅限于加州植物区系省的物种构成了重大威胁。对于活动很少或出现在特殊栖息地的动物来说，这些威胁可能是最大的，例如大变形蜘蛛(狼蛛、陷门蜘蛛及其近亲)。加州生活着70多种肉形动物，据保守估计，还有数十种还在等待发现。该项目将建立用于长期观察和测量种群大小趋势的Mygalomorph地点，开发利用遗传数据区分物种的新方法，并确定加州景观中特别丰富Mygalomorph物种和其他分类群的地区。这些数据将对保护优先次序产生重要影响，并将向科学家提供有关加州植物区系省巨大物种多样性的进化过程的信息。该项目将对学生和其他研究人员进行样本收集、整理以及遗传数据生成和计算分析技术方面的培训。该研究项目还将提供研究经验和专业建议，从未被充分代表的群体中挑选计划转到四年制科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)课程的社区大学生。该研究项目将结合原始的田野调查、新开发的分析方法来识别物种及其进化和地理关系，将活动门蜘蛛发展为加州植物区系省(CA-FP)生物多样性知识和保护的模范群体。将在包括大多数主要CA-FP栖息地类型的多个地理位置进行长期调查。在这些地点，将测量蜘蛛物种的存在和每个地点的个体数量，以便为今后的监测工作提供统计基线。基于对数千个基因的分析，将通过对这些物种的基因组进行分析，产生新的大型DNA数据集。新的方法将应用于这些数据，以确定物种边界，并将对所有新物种进行正式的分类描述。关于这些新物种及其遗传关系的新信息将被用来评估这个蜘蛛群体中跨越CA-FP复杂地理区域的生物多样性模式。将对CA-FP植物和脊椎动物的蜘蛛物种分布的地理模式进行统计比较，这些结果将被用来确定生物多样性“热点”是否与联邦、州和地方保护区重合。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

The California Floristic Province is a planetary biodiversity hotspot that extends from southwest Oregon to northwest Baja California and hosts many unique plant and animal species. Many factors, including drought and changing fire regimes, pose a significant threat to species restricted to the California Floristic Province. These threats are potentially greatest for animals that move very little, or occur in special habitats, such as mygalomorph spiders (tarantulas, trap-door spiders, and their kin). Over 70 species of mygalomorphs inhabit California, and conservative estimates indicate dozens of additional species that await discovery. This project will establish mygalomorph localities for long-term observation and measurement of trends in population sizes, develop new methods of using genetic data to distinguish species from one another, and identify areas of the California landscape that are particularly rich in mygalomorph species and other taxa. These data will have important implications for conservation prioritization and will inform scientists about the evolutionary processes that have contributed to tremendous species diversity in the California Floristic Province. This project will train students and other researchers in specimen collection, curation, and techniques in genetic data generation and computational analysis. Research experience and specialized advising will also be offered to select community college students from underrepresented groups who plan to transfer to four-year Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs.Using a combination of original fieldwork, newly developed analytical methods for genetically identifying species and their evolutionary and geographic relationships, this research project will develop trapdoor spiders as an exemplary group for biodiversity knowledge and conservation in the California Floristic Province (CA-FP). Long-term surveys will be conducted at multiple geographic locations that include most major CA-FP habitat types. At these sites, the presence of spider species and the numbers of individuals in each will be measured to provide a statistical baseline for future monitoring efforts. New large DNA datasets, based on analysis of thousands of genes, will be generated by analysis of the genomes of these species. New methods will be applied to this data to identify species boundaries, and formal taxonomic descriptions will be made for all new species. The new information about these new species and their genetic relationships will be used to assess patterns of biodiversity in this spider group across the complex geography of the CA-FP. Statistical comparisons of the geographic patterns of spider species distribution will be made to CA-FP plants and vertebrates, and these results will be used to determine whether biodiversity “hotspots” coincide with federal, state, and locally protected areas.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.