Collaborative Research: Addressing knowledge and capacity shortfalls to advance conservation science and action for endangered native Hawaiian land flora and fauna.

合作研究：解决知识和能力不足的问题，以推进濒临灭绝的夏威夷本土动植物群的保护科学和行动。

• 批准号: 2301565
• 负责人: Wallace Meyer
• 金额: $ 18.63万
• 依托单位: Pomona College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-05-01 至 2026-04-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2301565&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Addressing; knowledge; capacity

On average, an estimated 200 species of plants and animals go extinct each day because of habitat destruction, overexploitation, invasive species, disease, and climate change. Many of these species existed long before humans. They evolved to fill critical roles in ecosystems on which humanity relies for food, clean air, clean water, fertile soils, and a host of other services that make life possible and comfortable on this planet. For decades conservation efforts have focused primarily on saving select species. Unfortunately, such approaches do not encompass the bulk of biodiversity or the more complex interactions among species. These approaches leave gaps in scientific understanding of ecosystem level processes and interactions needed to implement effective conservation actions. This is especially evident for high diversity but poorly studied groups like snails, which account for the highest number of recorded extinctions in human history. Hawaiian Island land snails include some of the most diverse groups of snails on the planet. They are also among the most heavily impacted by extinction, with more than half of the more than 750 known species already lost. Saving the remaining species and restoring these jewels of the Hawaiian forests requires knowledge of species interactions and their ecological requirements. Understanding why land snails live where they do, what they feed on, and what their other habitat requirements are is critical to successful captive rearing of the remaining species and to returning them to the wild in protected and restored habitats. In addition, this project will help fill the human resource capacity shortfall by providing conservation experiences and broadening participation of groups underrepresented in science and conservation specifically. Students and researchers will engage and contribute to a broader understanding of ecology, applied conservation, and the biology of lesser-known groups like snails. At a deeper community level, this will expand knowledge and engagement with indigenous practices and ways of understanding. Hawaiian land snails hold deep cultural presence and Hawaiians hold generations of natural history insights about the natural world. This project will help bridge biocultural land snail knowledge with physical objects, natural history data, and genomics. Collectively, this will increase stewardship and sustainability of environmental resources, support conservation management efforts through indigenous value systems, and instill appreciation and protection of our precious resources for generations. Researchers will incorporate studies in microbial genomics, field ecology, and captive rearing diets that address the most urgent knowledge gaps in Hawaiian land snail ecology. By examining resource preferences and feeding ecology of Hawaiian lands snails this project will 1) determine snail feeding preferences on bacteria and fungi that grow on their native host plants; 2) characterize the microbial communities that likely form key components of snail diets; and 3) identify preferred plants and microbial communities that improve snail survivorship and breeding in captivity. The data gathered will be used to expand captive rearing capacity, restore degraded habitats with preferred plant resources, and build long term capacity for effective land snail conservation in Hawaii. Knowing which microbial assemblages enhance snail survivorship, growth, and fecundity will provide conservationists with a powerful tool to assess quality of snail habitat. It will also enable restoration practitioners to create habitats to support extant populations in the wild.This project is being supported via a joint program involving the Divisions of Environmental Biology and Integrative Organismal Systems and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.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.

平均而言，由于栖息地破坏、过度开发、入侵物种、疾病和气候变化，估计每天有200种动植物灭绝。这些物种中的许多在人类之前很久就存在了。它们的进化是为了填补生态系统中的关键角色，人类依赖生态系统获得食物、干净的空气、干净的水、肥沃的土壤，以及许多其他使地球上的生活成为可能和舒适的服务。几十年来，保护工作主要集中在拯救选定的物种上。不幸的是，这些方法并不包括大部分生物多样性或更复杂的物种之间的相互作用。这些方法在科学理解实施有效保护行动所需的生态系统层面的过程和相互作用方面留下了空白。这一点在蜗牛等高度多样性但研究较少的群体中尤为明显，蜗牛是人类历史上有记录以来灭绝数量最多的物种。夏威夷岛上的陆生蜗牛包括地球上最多样化的蜗牛群体。它们也是受灭绝影响最严重的物种之一，已知的750多个物种中有一半以上已经灭绝。拯救剩下的物种并恢复夏威夷森林的这些明珠，需要了解物种之间的相互作用及其生态需求。了解陆地蜗牛为什么生活在它们活动的地方，它们以什么为食，以及它们的其他栖息地要求是什么，对于成功圈养剩余物种并将它们送回受保护和恢复的栖息地至关重要。此外，该项目将通过提供保护经验和扩大在科学和保护方面代表性不足的群体的参与，帮助填补人力资源能力的不足。学生和研究人员将参与并为更广泛的理解生态学、应用保护和蜗牛等鲜为人知的群体的生物学做出贡献。在更深一层的社区层面上，这将扩大对土著做法和理解方式的了解和参与。夏威夷陆地蜗牛有着深厚的文化底蕴，夏威夷人对自然界有着世代的自然历史洞察力。该项目将有助于将生物文化陆地蜗牛知识与实物、自然历史数据和基因组学联系起来。总体而言，这将加强环境资源的管理和可持续性，通过土著价值系统支持保护管理努力，并向世代灌输对我们宝贵资源的欣赏和保护。研究人员将结合微生物基因组学、田间生态学和人工饲养饮食方面的研究，解决夏威夷陆地蜗牛生态学中最紧迫的知识空白问题。通过研究夏威夷陆地蜗牛的资源偏好和摄食生态，该项目将1)确定蜗牛对生长在其本地宿主植物上的细菌和真菌的摄食偏好；2)表征可能构成蜗牛饲料的关键成分的微生物群落；以及3)确定可改善圈养蜗牛生存和繁殖的优选植物和微生物群落。收集的数据将用于扩大人工饲养能力，利用优先植物资源恢复退化的栖息地，并建立有效保护夏威夷陆地蜗牛的长期能力。了解哪些微生物组合可以提高蜗牛的生存、生长和繁殖力，将为自然资源保护者提供一个强大的工具来评估蜗牛栖息地的质量。它还将使恢复从业者能够创造栖息地来支持野外现存的种群。该项目由环境生物学和综合组织系统部门和保罗·G·艾伦家庭基金会共同参与的一项计划支持。该奖项反映了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。