Collaborative Research: ASSESSING THE SYSTEMATICS AND DIVERSITY OF HAEMOSPORIDA IN AFRICAN LIZARDS

研究共生体的多样性为观察相互依赖的有机体之间的生态和进化动力学提供了一个独特的窗口。此外，就像煤矿里的金丝雀一样，共生体切换宿主可能会揭示导致宿主感染疾病的新出现的风险因素。另一方面，共生体的灭绝可以让我们了解环境变化的影响。然而，关于共生体多样性的信息是有限的，因为它们是相对较少被研究的生物。该项目调查撒哈拉以南非洲的蜥蜴和它们的血孢子虫共生体。红孢子虫是一组不同的媒介传播的原生动物共生体，在几乎所有世界生态系统的陆生脊椎动物中都能找到。尽管一些物种由于与鸟类和人类的疟疾有关而被研究，但非洲蜥蜴体内的血孢子虫共生体知之甚少。该项目为研究生和本科生提供培训机会。非洲蜥蜴的地方组合包括不同程度的生态和系统发育差异的分类群。与鸟类不同，蜥蜴不会广泛分散，当地的群落也不那么多样化。这些特征减少了宿主物种普查中的偏见，使我们能够测试有关驱动宿主/共生体生物多样性的因素的假设。因此，这项研究的目的是(1)通过将形态、分子和生态数据整合在一起的方法来促进我们对红孢子虫物种划定的理解；(2)通过研究新发现的寄主分支中的红孢子虫物种在不同生物群中的分布来产生关于驱动红孢子虫物种多样性的过程的新知识；(3)通过制定共生-宿主数据整合的标准来丰富生物多样性科学；(4)利用新的标本和元数据来产生关于区域两栖动物的知识。这项研究将通过将红孢子菌视为生物多样性的真实元素而不是其宿主的特征或病原体，为区域进化和生态过程提供新的见解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Studying the diversity of symbionts offers a unique window to observe ecological and evolutionary dynamics between interdependent organisms. Further, like a canary in a coal mine, host switching by symbionts may reveal emerging risk factors leading to infectious diseases in hosts. On the other hand, extinction of symbionts inform can inform us about the impacts of environmental change. Information on symbionts diversity is limited, however, since they are relatively understudied organisms. This project investigates lizards and their haemosporidian symbionts in sub-Saharan Africa. Haemosporida is a diverse group of vector-borne protozoan symbionts found in terrestrial vertebrates in almost all world ecosystems. Although some species have been studied because of their link to malaria in birds and humans, haemosporidian symbionts in African lizards are poorly known. This project provides training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students. Local assemblages of African lizards include sets of taxa differing in degree of ecological and phylogenetic distinctiveness. Unlike birds, lizards do not disperse broadly, and local assemblages are less diverse. These characteristics reduce bias in host species censuses, allowing us to test hypotheses about the factors driving host/symbiont biodiversity. Thus, this study aims to (1) advance our understanding of Haemosporida species delimitation by formalizing an approach that integrates morphological, molecular, and ecological data, (2) generate new knowledge on the processes driving haemosporidian species diversity by studying newly detected Haemosporida species in host clades across their distribution in distinct biomes, (3) enrich biodiversity sciences by developing standards for symbiont-host data integration, and (4) generate knowledge on the regional herpetofauna with new specimens and metadata. This study will provide new insights into regional evolutionary and ecological processes by considering Haemosporida as true elements of biodiversity rather than as traits or pathogens of their hosts.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.