Bees: phylogeny, biogeography and taxonomy

蜜蜂是世界上最重要的传粉者。由于它们的高灭绝风险，它们也告诉我们环境的状况。此外，由于物种对栖息地的需求不同（饮食宽度、筑巢地点和材料等），它们可以用来监测特定栖息地变化的影响。虽然西方家养蜜蜂是最常见的管理物种，但我们现在知道，其他20,400多种被描述的物种中，许多在农业上更重要。然而，阻碍我们利用蜜蜂多样性的一个主要因素是，它们在任何分类水平上的识别都非常困难。有几个问题导致了鉴定挑战，包括1)物种之间的形态相似性，2)鉴定工具的缺乏/质量差，以及3)分类的持续变化（在一般水平上可能是每年一次，甚至在科水平上也过于频繁）。分类应基于系统发育，但基于形态学和遗传数据的结果存在很大差异。因此，我们的研究目标是：1)通过分类密集的全证据系统发育来稳定蜜蜂分类，并利用结果来了解导致当前蜜蜂分布的地质/古环境/生物地理事件，3)开发并提供用户友好的识别工具。1. 将涉及使用我们广泛的收集，其中包括世界上35%的蜜蜂种类和93%的蜜蜂属。数百种形态特征将被评估，我们将使用最近开发的方法从每个属的至少一个成员中生成数百到数千个基因序列，这些方法甚至适用于几十年前收集的微小昆虫。它将为持久的分类提供坚实的基础。2. 由目标1产生的系统发育将进行时间校准，使我们能够检测特定地理中断的起源时间。然后，我们将能够寻找与断裂相吻合的地质或古环境事件。这项工作将在世界蜜蜂的一般水平，在智利的物种水平。将包括增加蜜蜂的DNA条形码库，并为特定国家（最终是整个世界）的蜜蜂种类生成图像驱动的、用户友好的识别指南。这些按键将变成免费的在线应用，模仿电脑游戏，并根据目标国家/国家/ IMPACT的游戏风格偏好进行文化上的调整。我们研究的全球性吸引了全世界的兴趣。生成可通过形态学和DNA交叉验证的用户友好识别工具的实际重要性不能被夸大。全世界对这方面的信息都有巨大的需求。我们将开发的方法应该为任何具有挑战性的生物群体的鉴定程序设定标准。

Bees are the most important pollinators in the world. Because of their high extinction risk, they also inform us about the state of the environment. Additionally, as species differ in habitat requirements (diet breadth, nest sites & materials, etc.) they can be used to monitor the effects of specific habitat changes. Although the western domesticated honey bee is the most commonly managed species, we now know that many of the other 20,400+ described species are often agriculturally more important. However, a major factor that impedes our use of bee diversity is the fact that their identification at any taxonomic level is extremely hard. Several issues contribute to identification challenges, including 1) morphological similarities among species, 2) absence/poor quality of identification tools, and 3) ongoing changes to their classifications (which can be annual at the generic level, and far too frequent even at the family level). Classifications should be based upon phylogenies, but there are large discrepancies between results based upon morphological and genetic data. Thus, our research objectives are to: 1) stabilize bee classification through a taxonomically dense total evidence phylogeny and use the results to 2) understand the geological/palaeoenvironmental /biogeographic events that led to current bee distributions and 3) develop and provide user-friendly identification tools. 1. Will involve use of our extensive collection which houses >35% of the world's bee species and >93% of the genera. Hundreds of morphological characteristics will be assessed, and we will generate hundreds to thousands of gene sequences from at least one member of each genus using recently developed methods that work even for minute pinned insects that were collected decades ago. It will provide a robust basis for a long-lasting classification. 2. The phylogeny resulting from objective 1 will be time calibrated permitting us to detect when particular geographic disjunctions originated. We will then be able to look for the geological or palaeoenvironmental events that coincide with the disjunctions. This work will be at the generic level for the bees of the world, species level for Chile. 3. Will involve augmenting the DNA barcode library for bees and generating image-driven, user-friendly identification guides for the bee genera of specific countries (eventually the whole world). These keys will be turned into freely available online apps that mimic computer games and will be culturally specific to the gaming style preferences in the target country/ies/ IMPACT. The global nature of our research attracts worldwide interest. The practical importance of generating user-friendly identification tools that can be cross-validated by morphology and DNA cannot be overstated. There is enormous need for this information throughout the world. The approaches we will develop should set the standard for identification procedures for any challenging group of organisms.