Biodiversity and Systematics of the Rhacophorid Anuran Radiation in Sri Lanka

斯里兰卡是印度南端的一个小岛国。 与印度西南部的西高止山脉地区一起，斯里兰卡被公认为世界生物多样性热点之一-这是一个拥有巨大物种多样性和特有性的地区，但也是对自然栖息地的高度威胁。 斯里兰卡，像许多发展中国家一样，经历了曾经广泛的热带雨林的严重损失。 事实上，岛上只有大约5%的雨林仍然存在，通常是小的孤立片段。 因此，令人惊讶的是，斯里兰卡剩下的热带雨林是大量以前未知的青蛙物种的家园。 斯里兰卡野生动物遗产信托基金会在过去十年的调查显示，岛上可能有100多种小型陆栖青蛙。 这些青蛙不需要独立的水来饲养蝌蚪-相反，它们没有蝌蚪，胚胎在陆地上产下的卵中完全发育，并从完全形成的幼蛙中出现。 这种繁殖方式被称为直接发育，在青蛙身上只进化了大约八次，使斯里兰卡的青蛙更加独特。这个项目的目的是充分记录斯里兰卡青蛙的物种多样性，作为制定保护措施的第一步，以确保青蛙的这种独特的辐射不会丢失给后代。 我们正在使用各种方法来识别和描述新物种，并确定它们的进化关系，包括：DNA序列，呼叫记录以及形态和生态分析。 在NSF的资助下，我们现在能够对岛上的青蛙动物群进行全面调查，并详细分析和描述构成斯里兰卡直接发展青蛙的显着辐射的许多物种。 我们与斯里兰卡野生动物遗产信托基金密切合作，正在努力培训一批新的斯里兰卡专家骨干，他们将成为国家自然遗产编目和保护倡议的核心。 这项研究不仅有助于对世界生物多样性热点之一的两栖动物多样性的基本了解，而且有助于建立基础设施，以确保其保护。

PUBLIC ABSTRACTDEB 0345885SchneiderSri Lanka is a small island nation off the southern tip of India. Together with the Western Ghats region of southwestern India, Sri Lanka is recognized as one of the world's biodiversity hotspots - an area with enormous species diversity and endemism, but also a high degree of threat to natural habitats. Sri Lanka, like much of the developing world, has experienced significant loss of it's once extensive rainforests. In fact, only about 5% of the islands rainforest remains, typically in small isolated fragments. Thus it was surprising that the remaining rainforest of Sri Lanka is home to a large number of previously unknown frog species. Surveys by the Wildlife Heritage Trust of Sri Lanka over the past ten years revealed that there likely are over one hundred species of small terrestrial frogs endemic to the island. These frogs do not require free standing water in which to rear tadpoles - instead, they have no tadpoles and the embryos develop completely within eggs laid on land and from which fully formed froglets emerge. This mode of reproduction is known as direct-development and has evolved only about eight times in frogs making the Sri Lankan species even more unique.The purpose of this project is to fully document the frog species diversity in Sri Lanka as a first step in developing conservation measures to ensure that this unique radiation of frogs is not lost to future generations. We are using a variety of methods to identify and describe the new species and to determine their evolutionary relationships, including: DNA sequences, call recordings, and analyses of morphology and ecology. With funding from NSF we are now able to carry out a comprehensive survey of the island's frog fauna and analyze and describe in detail the many species that make up the remarkable radiation of direct-developing frogs in Sri Lanka. In close collaboration with the Wildlife Heritage Trust of Sri Lanka, we are working to train a new cadre of Sri Lankan experts who will form the core of the nation's initiative to catalog and preserve its natural heritage. This study not only contributes to basic understanding of amphibian diversity in one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, but also helps to build the infrastructure to ensure its preservation.