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惊人的特征，如眼睛减少或丧失，色素丢失，四肢伸长，以及与殖民一系列独特的地下栖息地相关的新陈代谢改变。以前对同一地点的个体洞穴适应物种的研究表明，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，目前还不清楚形成洞穴生态系统需要多长时间，以及生态系统功能是如何随着时间的推移而保持的。在夏威夷ʻI岛上，几十万年的持续火山活动创造了被称为熔岩管的地下栖息地，这些栖息地具有不同的地质时代，代表着不同的生态环境。不同的洞穴适应节肢动物群落生活在这些夏威夷熔岩管中，并由当地先锋树ōhi‘a的根部维持。该项目将产生几个重大进展，包括记录和描述新物种的发生和分布，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ʻI的重大突破，那里的岛屿生物多样性丧失已经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，并将支持对下一代不同的科学家和公众进行关于综合生物学研究的教育，包括：(1)为夏威夷ʻI的本科生提供为期一年的跨学科研究实习；(2)对学生和研究人员进行生物多样性、生态学和分子遗传学方面的合作培训；(3)翻修夏威夷火奴鲁鲁的Berice Pauahi主教博物馆的夏威夷洞穴节肢动物展览馆，其中包括制定公共宣传计划和K-12教材。该项目使用一种综合的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上的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，这项研究涉及对HawaiʻI岛上未被勘探或未被勘探的熔岩管进行系统的生物学调查，以确定可与估计的物种丰富度和阿尔法(社区内)和贝塔(社区间)多样性进行比较的社区一级多样性模式。将使用节肢动物和食物资源的稳定同位素比率分析来评估定义功能多样性的生态位和物种相互作用。系统发育的多样性将决定不同谱系、群落和生态位之间平行多样化的程度。已发现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)之间生态系统水平反馈的重要性，这些过程随时间管理地下生态系统的创建和维护。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。

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.