Collaborative Research: A Biotic Inventory of Terrestrial Vertebrates, Spiders, and Haemosporidian Parasites of Sulawesi, Indonesia

印度尼西亚的苏拉威西岛物种异常丰富，因此是发现生物多样性的重要地点。这项研究项目将清点这个热带大岛上的陆生脊椎动物(两栖动物、爬行动物、鸟类和哺乳动物)、蜘蛛和脊椎动物寄生虫。由每个分类小组的专家组成的野外小组将在五个野外季节期间对苏拉威西的10座主要山脉进行调查。通过在一些森林保持完好的情况下对这个岛屿进行彻底采样，并将这些收藏品存放在自然历史博物馆中，支持热带多样性研究的原材料(标本)将提供给现在和未来几代生物研究人员。该项目包括对美国和印度尼西亚研究机构的本科生和研究生、博士后和技术人员进行生物调查研究的培训。印尼资深科学家将协助美国研究人员对标本进行合作分析。研究小组将组织两次研讨会，主要围绕分子遗传数据收集和分析，包括高通量序列数据，以及相应的群体遗传、系统发育和生物地理分析。苏拉威西生物区系具有高度地方性的特点，这是由于其面积大、地理环境、长期与所有其他陆块隔绝以及复杂的构造历史造成的。该岛具有巨大的地形起伏，海拔1000米以上的广大地区，20座海拔2500米以上的山峰，6座海拔3000米以上的山峰。它可能从未与西面更近的舜他大陆架相连，也从未与东面更远的萨胡尔大陆架(新几内亚、澳大利亚及其大陆桥岛屿)相连，因此在其2000-2500万年的整个历史中一直与世隔绝。苏拉威西岛是一个复合岛，由至少五个古岛屿组成，这些岛屿在1000万年前到500万年前或多或少同时合并之前，彼此之间相距甚远。在苏拉威西岛上物种就地多样化的过程中，该岛的综合性质受到了强烈的牵连。选择了实地进行生物调查工作的地点，以便对苏拉威西的四个分支及其中央核心进行彻底采样。该计划的一个主要重点将是在Endemism每个地区最大的山脉上沿海拔横断面进行采样，从而使海拔达到2500米的横断面能够进行采样。这里目标的焦点分类群没有一个是从高海拔地点充分取样的。拟议实地工作的科学价值很大，大致分为以下主题：(1)记录生物多样性，包括物种及其分布、进化和种群遗传关系和亲缘关系，以及物种和群落多样化的年表和地质背景；(2)保护生物学，包括记录疾病的爆发和反应、入侵物种和灭绝；(3)了解有趣的进化过程，包括适应性辐射、杂交、生态机会和生物创新的遗传基础。

The Indonesian island of Sulawesi is unusually rich in species and therefore is an important location for biodiversity discovery. This research project will inventory terrestrial vertebrates (amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals), spiders, and vertebrate parasites of this large tropical island. Field teams composed of specialists on each of these taxonomic groups will survey 10 major mountains on Sulawesi over the course of five field seasons. By thoroughly sampling this island now while some forest remains fully intact and depositing these collections in natural history museums, the raw materials (specimens) supporting the study of tropical diversification will be made available to this and future generations of biological researchers. This project includes training of undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs, and technicians from US and Indonesian research institutions in biotic survey research. Senior Indonesian scientists will aid US researchers in a collaborative analysis of specimens. The research team will organize two workshops primarily oriented around molecular genetic data collection and analysis, including high-throughput sequence data, and corresponding population genetic, phylogenetic, and biogeographical analysis. Sulawesi is characterized by a highly endemic biota, resulting from its large size, geographic setting, long period of isolation from all other land masses, and complex tectonic history. The island exhibits substantial topographical relief, with vast areas over 1000 m above sea level, 20 summits greater than 2500 m in height, and six summits above 3000 m. It probably has never been connected to the more proximate Sunda continental shelf to its west, nor with the more distant Sahul Shelf (New Guinea, Australia, and their land-bridge islands) to its east, and thus has been isolated for its entire history of 20-25 million years. Sulawesi is a composite island composed of at least five paleo-islands that were distantly separated from one another for several million years before merging more or less simultaneously between 10 and 5 million years ago. The composite nature of the island has been strongly implicated in the process of in situ species diversification on Sulawesi. Field sites for biotic survey work were selected to allow thorough sampling of the four arms of Sulawesi as well as its Central Core. A major focus of the program will be sampling along elevational transects on the largest mountains of each Area of Endemism, thereby enabling transects that reach 2500 m in elevation. None of the focal taxa targeted here have been sampled adequately from high elevation sites. The scientific value of the proposed field efforts are considerable and fall broadly into the following themes: (1) documentation of biodiversity, including species and their distributions, evolutionary and population genetic relationships and affinities, and the chronology and geological context of species and community diversification, (2) conservation biology, including documentation of disease outbreak and response, invasive species, and extinction, and (3) understanding of interesting evolutionary processes, including adaptive radiation, hybridization, ecological opportunity, and the genetic basis of biological innovation.