Collaborative Research: Integrative ecological perspectives on extinction processes - a multi-proxy case study of Hispaniolan subfossil and extant rodents

该项目汇集了专门从事遗传学，解剖学和生态学的研究人员和教育工作者，以探索导致最近伊斯帕尼奥拉岛特有啮齿动物灭绝的因素。Hispaniolan啮齿动物提供了一个特殊的案例研究，研究岛屿灭绝事件的触发因素和时间轴。生物多样性的丧失是一个全球性的问题，在过去的500年里，超过70%的哺乳动物灭绝发生在岛屿上。加勒比遭受的物种损失是世界上任何区域中最大的。该项目产生的化石数据有可能通过澄清哪些因素最有助于灭绝事件来促进保护政策，并将有助于了解其他岛屿上物种的消失。该项目将为教育作出贡献，为包括加勒比和加勒比裔美国大学生在内的多个级别的青年科学家提供指导，并为K-12学生开发教学模块。最后，一个灭绝的伊斯帕尼奥拉哺乳动物数据库将为海地和美国的公众提供更好的科学信息。该项目将使用形态测量学，稳定同位素生态学和古代DNA来（1）确定Hispaniola灭绝的地方性啮齿动物之间的生态关系，（2）确定物种损失的时间，（3）解决灭绝类群之间的系统发育关系，以及（4）澄清灭绝的触发因素。该研究小组将依靠先前从海地西南部Tiburon半岛上三个古生物丰富的洞穴中收集的化石材料。所产生的数据将使人们能够更细致地了解人类行为、气候和单个物种特征（例如，体型、栖息地、遗传多样性）在伊斯帕尼奥拉岛上起着重要作用。保护生物学家可以利用所产生的数据，为保护政策提供信息，旨在保护伊斯帕尼奥拉岛和岛屿系统的剩余生物多样性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

This project brings together researchers and educators specializing in genetics, anatomy, and ecology to explore the factors that led to the recent extinction of endemic rodents on Hispaniola. Hispaniolan rodents provide an exceptional case study for examining the triggers and timeline of island extinction events. Biodiversity loss is a global concern, and over 70% of mammalian extinctions in the last 500 years have occurred on islands. The Caribbean has suffered the greatest species loss of any region in the world. Fossil data generated from this project have the potential to contribute to conservation policy by clarifying which factors most contributed to extinction events, and will be helpful for understanding the disappearance of species on other islands. This project will contribute to education by providing mentorship to young scientists at multiple levels, including Caribbean and Caribbean-American undergraduates and by developing teaching modules for K-12 students. Finally, a database of extinct Hispaniolan mammals will provide better public access to scientific information both in Haiti and the USA. This project will use morphometrics, stable isotope ecology, and ancient DNA to (1) identify the ecological relationships among Hispaniola’s extinct endemic rodents, (2) determine the timing of species loss, (3) resolve phylogenetic relationships among extinct taxa, and (4) clarify extinction triggers. The research team will rely on previously collected fossil material from three paleontologically-rich caves on the Tiburon Peninsula in southwestern Haiti. The data generated will allow a more nuanced understanding of the roles that human behavior, climate, and individual species characteristics (e.g., body size, habitat, genetic diversity) have played in extinctions on Hispaniola. The data generated can be leveraged by conservation biologists to inform conservation policy aimed at preserving the remaining biological diversity on Hispaniola and in island systems more generally.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.