Collaborative Research: Are Bornean Areas of Endemism the Evolutionary Source of Southeast Asias Remarkable Terrestrial Biodiversity?

婆罗洲是东南亚最大、最古老的岛屿。它位于一个物种多样性很高的地区的中央，面临着越来越多的人类威胁。婆罗洲的生物多样性鲜为人知，但对附近爪哇岛和苏门答腊岛的调查显示，这些岛屿是独特栖息地和物种的复杂拼凑。这种多样性是海平面周期性下降所推动的复杂进化和地质历史的结果，创造了大陆桥，使岛屿之间得以扩散。这个项目将解决这样的假设，即婆罗洲是该地区许多进化物种的重要来源。了解婆罗洲在推动东南亚生物多样性方面的作用，对于为保护这个地球上最多样化、最受威胁的岛屿之一提供明确的战略至关重要。一个交流项目将为印度尼西亚和马来西亚的同事提供博物馆管理和物种鉴定方面的实践培训。社交媒体活动和实地博客将传播实时更新，达到100多万关注者。该项目还将为不同的研究生和博士后研究人员提供培训和指导。以博物馆为基础的基因组分析与新的实地收集的样本相结合，将为检验婆罗洲通过其潜在的种族灭绝地区或具有丰富特有物种群落的地区对该地区的生物多样性做出重大贡献的假设提供基础。小型哺乳动物，如啮齿动物，将被用作示范模型，尽管该项目的影响涉及到所有的花卉和动物群。对北婆罗洲六个地点的实地考察将增加博物馆藏品中目前存在的标本，提供必要的样本，以测试岛上是否存在七个假想的Endemism区域。所有标本都将有数百个核基因和完整的线粒体基因组测序，以便在婆罗洲各地以稳健的采样生成种内系统发育图，从而能够进行统计分析，评估多样性的基因组模式，作为拟议的Endemism领域的额外证据。除了通过更深入地了解婆罗洲的进化和生物地理历史来洞察保护策略之外，这项研究的结果还将包括可能发现的新物种、分类学修订，以及将被保存在博物馆收藏品中的具有高质量组织的有价值的担保标本。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Borneo is the largest and oldest island in Southeast Asia. It sits in the middle of a region of high species diversity and is subject to increasing human threats. The biodiversity of Borneo is poorly known, but surveys of the nearby islands of Java and Sumatra have shown these islands to be a complex patchwork of unique habitats and species. This diversity is the result of a complex evolutionary and geological history driven by the periodic fall of sea levels, creating land bridges that enabled dispersal among the islands. This project will address the hypothesis that Borneo was an important source for many of the species that have evolved across the region. Understanding Borneo’s role in driving biodiversity in Southeast Asia is essential to providing clear strategies for conserving one of the planet’s most diverse and threatened islands. An exchange program will provide hands-on training for Indonesian and Malaysian colleagues in museum curation and species identification. Social media campaigns and field blogs will disseminate real-time updates which reach to over 1 million followers. This project will also provide training and mentorship for a diverse pool of graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher.A combination of museum-based genomic analysis with new field-collected samples will provide the foundation to test the hypothesis that Borneo has significantly contributed to the biodiversity in the region via its potential Areas of Endemism, or regions with rich communities of endemic species. Small mammals such as rodents will be used as the exemplar models, though the implications of this project span all floral and faunal groups. Field expeditions at six locations of Northern Borneo will augment the specimens that currently exist in museum collections, providing the sampling necessary to test the presence of seven hypothesized Area of Endemism on the island. All specimens will have hundreds of nuclear genes and complete mitochondrial genomes sequenced in order to generate intraspecific phylogenies with robust sampling across Borneo, enabling statistical analyses that will evaluate genomic patterns of diversity as additional evidence for the proposed Areas of Endemism. In addition to insights into conservation strategies by way of a deeper understanding of Borneo’s evolutionary and biogeographic histories, results from this research will include the likely discovery of new species, taxonomic revisions, and valuable vouchered specimens with high-quality tissues that will be preserved in museum collections.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.