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

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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.