Collaborative Research: Bridging the Space-Time Continuum to Investigate How Biodiversity Scales Across Subterranean Systems

许多穴居动物已经进化出了惊人的特征，比如减少或失去了眼睛，失去了色素沉着，四肢变长，以及与一系列独特的地下栖息地相关的新陈代谢改变。先前对同一地点穴居物种个体的研究表明，随着时间的推移，物种内部和物种之间发生了复杂的生物相互作用。然而，尚不清楚形成洞穴生态系统需要多长时间，以及生态系统功能如何随着时间的推移而维持。在夏威夷岛，数十万年来持续不断的火山活动创造了地下栖息地，被称为熔岩管，它们具有不同的地质年龄，代表着不同的生态进化“岛屿”。在夏威夷的熔岩管中生活着各种各样的适应洞穴的节肢动物物种，这些物种由当地的先锋树ōhi'a的根维持。该项目将取得几项重大进展，包括记录和描述新物种的出现和分布，以及获得熔岩管和物种的生态和遗传数据，这两项都将成为夏威夷岛的重大突破，夏威夷岛的生物多样性丧失已达到前所未有的水平。该项目非常重视当地的夏威夷原住民社区，并将支持教育下一代不同的科学家和公众关于综合生物学研究，包括：(1)为夏威夷本科生提供为期一年的跨学科研究实习机会；(2)为学生和研究人员提供生物多样性、生态学和分子遗传学方面的合作培训；(3)翻修夏威夷檀香山伯尼斯·波阿希·毕晓普博物馆的夏威夷洞穴节肢动物展览，其中包括开发公共宣传项目和K-12教育材料。该项目采用综合方法来了解生态相互作用和进化机会如何产生生物多样性，并支持不同空间和地质尺度下地下节肢动物群落的分类、功能和系统发育多样性。由于有可能发现更多的地下节肢动物多样性，本研究包括对夏威夷夏威夷岛未开发或未开发的熔岩管进行系统的生物调查，以确定群落水平的多样性模式，可以与估计的物种丰富度和α（群落内）和β（群落间）多样性进行比较。生态位和物种相互作用定义功能多样性将通过节肢动物和饮食资源的稳定同位素比值分析进行评估。系统发育多样性将决定谱系、群落和生态位之间平行多样化的程度。揭示的生态和进化关系确立了不同多样性调节过程（即食物网相互作用、种群动态、物种形成）之间生态系统级反馈的重要性，这些过程随着时间的推移控制着地下生态系统的创造和维持。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

Many cave-dwelling animals have evolved striking traits, such as reduced or lost eyes, lost pigmentation, elongated limbs, and altered metabolism associated with colonizing a range of unique subsurface habitats. Previous studies of individual cave-adapted species from the same locations suggest that complex biological interactions within and among species have occurred over time. However, it is unclear how long it takes to form a cave ecosystem and how ecosystem functions are maintained through time. On Hawaiʻi Island, continuous volcanic activities over hundreds of thousands of years created subterranean habitats, known as lava tubes, that are of different geologic ages and represent distinct eco-evo “islands.” Diverse yet understudied communities of cave-adapted arthropod species live in these Hawaiian lava tubes and are sustained by the roots of the native pioneer tree, ōhi'a. The project will result in several major advancements, including documenting and describing new species occurrences and distributions, as well as obtaining ecological and genetic data for the lava tubes and species, both of which will serve as significant breakthroughs for Hawaiʻi, where island biodiversity loss has reached unprecedented levels. The project places a strong emphasis on the local Native Hawaiian community, and will support educating the next generation of diverse scientists and the public about integrative biological research by including: (1) year-long cross-disciplinary research internships for undergraduate students in Hawaiʻi, (2) collaborative training for students and researchers in biodiversity, ecology, and molecular genetics, and (3) renovation of the Hawaiian Cave Arthropod Exhibit at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, which will include the development of public outreach programs and K-12 educational materials. This project uses an integrative approach to understand how ecological interactions and evolutionary chance generate biodiversity and support the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of subterranean arthropod communities across different spatial and geological scales. With the potential to discover more subterranean arthropod diversity, this research involves systematic biological surveys of under- or unexplored lava tubes on Hawaiʻi Island to determine community-level diversity patterns that can be compared to estimated species richness and alpha (within community) and beta (among communities) diversity. Ecological niches and species interactions that define functional diversity will be evaluated using stable isotope ratio analysis of arthropods and diet resources. Phylogenetic diversities will determine the extent of parallel diversification across lineages, communities, and niches. The uncovered ecological and evolutionary relationships establish the importance of ecosystem-level feedbacks among different diversity-regulating processes (i.e., food web interactions, population dynamics, speciation) that govern subterranean ecosystem creation and maintenance through time.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.