Collaborative Research: Digitization PEN: BatPEN!—A Partnership to Facilitate Scientific Inquiry into the Vast Functional Trait Diversity of Phyllostomid Bats

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Through the process of diversification, more organisms exist today than at any other time during the history of life. However, this biodiversity is not evenly distributed through space, time, or across the tree of life. Understanding phenotypic trait variability across taxa provides information that is valuable for answering some of the most fundamental questions in biology such as, what determines the relationship between form and function, how do different phenotypes facilitate coexistence across communities, or how has the evolution of phenotypic characteristics influenced the levels of biodiversity exhibited today? Variation in phenotypic traits forms the bedrock of understanding in much of ecology, evolution, and systematics. In partnership with the oVert TCN, the BatPEN! project will mobilize high-resolution phenotypic functional-trait data from the Neotropical bat family Phyllostomidae. The aim of BatPEN! is to increase the abundance of available functional trait data, create scientific infrastructure, and facilitate scientific inquiry into the most diverse family-level clade of mammals. Moreover, the project will fuel novel STEM training opportunities and enable major research avenues in ecology and evolutionary biology. BatPEN! will generate about 1000 high-resolution computerized tomography (CT) scans of entire museum specimens to fill in representation of the 214 phyllostomid species with the aim to substantially compliment the one species per genus taxonomic coverage of oVert. This will also add additional novel coverage to oVert in two ways, first by including deeper intraspecific coverage of 5 taxa that phylogenetically span the higher-level monophyletic subclades of Phyllostomidae based on 10 individuals from each of 10 different sites distributed across the Neotropics, and second, by scanning ontogenetic series from three species exhibiting three different degrees of sexual dimorphism. Immediate educational and research impacts will occur by adherence to core data management protocols of the oVert-TCN, including hosting open phenotypic data on MorphoSource (morphosource.org) and seamlessly linking these data back to original specimens and other specimen-derived resources via iDigBio (idigbio.org). BatPEN! will facilitate museum-based scientific infrastructure through not just making digitized data streams available but by training the next generation of museum scientists. BatPEN! will be based at a Hispanic serving institution and will ensure direct involvement of under-represented groups in STEM. The project will draw undergraduates from Texas Tech’s ethnically diverse population to assist with research related to BatPEN! through the Center for the Integration of Stem Education and Research (CISER). In cooperation with the Museum Science and Heritage Graduate Program at Texas Tech, museum science students will be trained in curational/collections activities to contribute to the next generation of collection-based researchers and educators. In addition, a formal course will be offered entitled “Vertebrate Curational Techniques,” which will provide a hands-on approach to curation and collection activity.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.