Collaborative Research: Genomics of speciation and evolution of ecological traits in a geographic radiation of island kingfishers

物种如何以及为什么多样化是生物学的一个中心问题，物种形成的过程是所有生物多样性是如何产生的。岛屿提供了一个很好的环境，研究物种形成的野生种群，由于其离散的地理和良好的地质记录。从东南亚到波利尼西亚的印度洋-太平洋地区是物种形成理论的摇篮，也是分布广泛、迅速进化的物种复合体的众多地理辐射的家园。该项目将综合基因组学和最先进的特征数据集，以揭示自然界中促进快速辐射的过程。具体来说，它将使用一种分布广泛、物种丰富的岛屿翠鸟属（鸟类：Todiramphus）作为其研究系统。这个项目旨在对物种形成过程做出广泛适用和可推广的预测。该项目的成果将成为太平洋未来物种形成研究的模型，并成为开拓研究复杂表型及其与自然相互作用的新方法的跳板。该项目将通过虚拟和面对面的体验吸引公众参与。研究人员将创建虚拟收藏体验（VCE），突出西南生物博物馆和菲尔德博物馆的相关自然历史收藏。这些在线工具将揭示如何从标本中收集数据并用于解决该项目的研究目标。VCE将被开发为9-12年级的教育模块，包括课程计划和学生学习成果。研究人员将在菲尔德博物馆（The Field Museum）开发一个高度多感官的展览，展示该项目的颜色演变主题，预计芝加哥将有50万人参加。将在西南生物学博物馆举办一个教育讲习班，为来自新墨西哥大学和新墨西哥州农村地区机构的美洲土著和西班牙裔学生提供生物多样性科学方面的实践培训和经验。它将展示STEM的专业机会，重点是基于博物馆的生物多样性科学。物种形成基因组学解决了生态，基因流和基因组结构在物种形成中的作用。本计画提出系统学、地理学、羽毛多样性与生态适应性之综合研究，以验证多种假设，探讨促使岛屿翠鸟在多样且广泛的辐射下快速多样化的因素。Todiramphus翠鸟出现在整个印度洋-太平洋地区，它们的多样化率可与“经典”适应性辐射相媲美。该研究系统提供了复制的同域性和隔离的实例，以及多样化综合研究所需的不同生态。该项目将生成包括全基因组、生态位模型和表型特征在内的各种数据集，以研究这些因素如何在过去1000万年间促进岛屿上的快速辐射。拟议的研究将利用这一独特的地理环境，通过（a）量化基因流的存在和程度以及基因组结构的新变化如何影响多样化，（B）评估外在性状如何影响物种形成的多方面过程，（羽色、地理分布和相对生态位保守性）促进或抑制了分支中的物种分化;以及（c）通过基因组和表型多样性背景下的丰度-生态位-中心假设的新测试。该奖项反映了NSF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。

How and why species diversify is a central question of biology and the process of speciation is how all biodiversity is created. Islands provide an excellent setting in which to study speciation in wild populations due to their discrete geography and well-characterized geologic record. The Indo-Pacific, from Southeast Asia to Polynesia, is the cradle of speciation theory and home to numerous geographic radiations of widespread, rapidly evolving species complexes. This project will synthesize genomics and state-of-the-art trait datasets to reveal processes that promote rapid radiations in nature. Specifically, it will use a widespread, species-rich genus of island kingfishers (Aves: Todiramphus) as its study system. This project aims to make broadly applicable and generalizable predictions about the speciation process. The outcomes of this project will be a model for future speciation research in the Pacific and serve as a springboard for pioneering new ways of studying complex phenotypes and their interactions with nature. This project will engage the public through virtual and face-to-face experiences. The researchers will create virtual collections experiences (VCEs) that highlight the associated natural history collections at the Museum of Southwestern Biology and The Field Museum. These online tools will reveal how data are collected from specimens and used to address the project’s research objectives. The VCEs will be developed as education modules for grades 9–12, complete with lesson plans and student learning outcomes. The researchers will development a highly multisensory exhibit at The Field Museum, playing on the project’s themes of color evolution that will reach an estimated 500,000 people in Chicago. An educational workshop will be held at the Museum of Southwestern Biology that will provide hands-on training and experience in biodiversity science to Native American and Hispanic students from UNM and New Mexico’s rural-area institutions. It will showcase professional opportunities in STEM with a focus on museum-based biodiversity science.Speciation genomics addresses the roles of ecology, gene flow, and genomic architecture in the formation of species. This project proposes an integrative study of systematics, biogeography, plumage diversification, and ecological adaptation to test multiple hypotheses of the factors that promoted rapid diversification in a diverse and widespread radiation of island kingfishers. Todiramphus kingfishers occur across the entire Indo-Pacific and their diversification rate rivals those of “classic” adaptive radiations. This study system provides replicated instances of sympatry and isolation, as well as divergent ecologies required for a synthetic study of diversification. The project will generate diverse datasets including whole genomes, ecological niche models, and phenotypic traits, to study how these factors facilitated rapid radiation on islands over the last 10 million years. The proposed research will leverage this unique geographic context to provide novel insights into the multifaceted process of speciation by (a) quantifying the presence and extent of gene flow and how novel changes in genomic architecture influenced diversification; (b) assessing how extrinsic traits (plumage coloration, biogeography, and relative niche conservatism) promoted or inhibited species divergence in the clade; and (c) through a novel test of the abundance-niche-center hypothesis in the context of genomic and phenotypic diversity.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.