CAREER: Integrating Western Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) to Understand Aphonopelma Diversity Across the Madrean Sky Islands and Educate K-12 Tribal Students

职业：整合西方科学和传统生态知识 (TEK)，了解马德雷天空群岛的 Aphonopelma 多样性并教育 K-12 部落学生

• 批准号: 2144339
• 负责人: Chris Hamilton
• 金额: $ 101.63万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Idaho
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-01-15 至 2027-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2144339&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Integrating; Western; Science; Traditional

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Adapting to climate change is a fundamental challenge for life on Earth. As organisms are forced to move in search of hospitable habitat, species leave areas no longer favorable and expand into new areas, or they go extinct. These events are playing out across North America’s Madrean Pine-Oak woodlands, a biodiversity hotspot, as increasing temperatures and decreasing precipitation push the endemic organisms further up the mountains. The sky islands are natural laboratories perfect for evolutionary studies because each sky island can be thought of as a replicate, with each representing a time point in an ongoing natural experiment. With one-fifth of the world’s invertebrates at risk for extinction, species with a limited ability to move, like the long-lived Aphonopelma – the only tarantula genus in the United States - are of particular concern. If these species are lost to extinction before discovery, this biodiversity knowledge will be lost forever. This research will inform our understanding of island biogeography theory and the evolutionary history of the Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands biodiversity hotspot. Importantly, this biodiversity hotspot is found within the sovereign land of the Apache and Tohono O’odham peoples. This land, its geology, and the flora and fauna holds significant scientific and cultural knowledge (Traditional Ecological Knowledge – TEK) for these tribes. Gained through thousands of years of living with the land, tribes have an intimate understanding of the interconnections between people and the environment (e.g., how climate change has altered the seasonal patterns and distributions of sky island biodiversity). The goal of this research is to integrate Western science and TEK to better understand the evolutionary patterns and processes that led to the remarkable radiation of Aphonopelma spiders throughout the sky islands, and how climate change is going to impact this diversity in the future. The education component of this project will develop a unique STEM program for San Carlos Apache K-12 students that integrates their TEK with modern research to show them how they can become the next generation of protectors of their tribe’s natural resources.The overarching question this research looks to answer is whether the Madrean Archipelago has been a generator for North American tarantula diversity. Specifically, this research will use genome data to understand if the sky island Aphonopelma species evolved once or many times. This will allow the researchers to determine what advantageous changes in the genome occurred when species moved into the sky islands and diversified by adapting to new habitats, and whether sky island species will be able to adapt to global climate change. Lastly, the researchers will work with San Carlos Apache elders to show tribal K-12 students how TEK and Western science can be utilized together to better understand the world around them. This combined effort will take students into the different sky island ranges to collect specimens and link the organisms with the land and their TEK. In the classroom, this collaboration will use a “LEGO DNA sequencer” to teach the students about DNA and genetics and introduce students to genome sequencing and bioinformatics. This project will produce transformative results with high scientific impact by informing our understanding of how climate change has and will affect the genetic diversity of a biodiversity hotspot, as well as by including the most underrepresented group in the sciences, Native peoples, in this process.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.

该奖项是根据2021年《美国救援计划法》的全部或部分资助（公共法117-2）。适应气候变化是地球上生命的根本挑战。随着有机体被迫寻找可住院的栖息地，物种离开地区不再有利并扩展到新地区，或者它们灭绝。这些事件正在北美的生物多样性热点北美的北美松树谷林地（Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands）进行，随着温度升高和降水降低，内在生物会进一步推向山上。天空岛是天然实验室，非常适合进化研究，因为每个天岛都可以被认为是复制的，每个岛都代表了正在进行的自然实验中的时间点。由于世界上有五分之一的无脊椎动物有延伸的风险，具有有限移动能力的物种，例如长期寿命的aphonopelma（美国唯一的狼蛛属）。如果这些物种在发现之前丢失了扩展，那么这种生物多样性知识将永远消失。这项研究将为我们对岛屿生物地理学理论的理解和马德雷亚木工林地生物多样性热点的进化史。重要的是，在Apache和Tohono O’Odham People的主权土地中发现了这个生物多样性热点。这些土地，地质学以及动植物持有者对这些部落的大量科学和文化知识（传统的生态知识 - TEK）。在数千年的时间里，部落获得了数千年的生活，对人们与环境之间的互连有深入的了解（例如，气候变化如何改变了天岛生物多样性的季节性模式和分布）。这项研究的目的是整合西方科学和TEK，以更好地了解进化模式。以及导致整个天空岛上阿菲诺回植物蜘蛛的显着辐射的过程，以及气候变化将如何影响这种多样性。该项目的教育组成部分将为San Carlos Apache K-12学生开发独特的STEM计划，该计划将他们的TEK与现代研究融为一体，以表明他们如何成为部落自然资源的下一代保护者。这项研究的总体问题是，这项研究的回答是，这是马达群岛是否是北美北美tarant虫的生成者。具体而言，这项研究将使用基因组数据来了解Sky Island Aphonopelma物种是否演变了一次或多次。这将使研究人员能够确定当物种进入天空岛并通过适应新栖息地的多样化以及Sky Island物种是否能够适应全球气候变化时，基因组发生了什么优势。最后，研究人员将与圣卡洛斯·阿帕奇（San Carlos Apache）长老合作，向部落K-12学生展示如何利用Tek和西方科学来更好地了解周围的世界。这项综合的努力将使学生进入不同的天岛范围，以收集标本并将生物与土地及其tek联系起来。在课堂上，这项合作将使用“乐高DNA测序仪”来向学生传授DNA和遗传学的知识，并向学生介绍基因组测序和生物信息学。 This project will produce transformative results with high scientific impact by informing our understanding of how climate change has and will affect the genetic diversity of a biodiversity hotspot, as well as by including the most underrepresented group in the sciences, Native people, in this process.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed precious of support through evaluation using the Foundation's Intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.