A Survey of Terrestrial Arthropoda in Chilean Temperate Forests

这一生物调查和清查项目将在智利进行，智利是一个虚拟的生物岛，包括世界五大温带雨林系统之一，也是南美洲唯一的温带雨林系统。智利的温带森林自第三纪以来一直是孤立的，导致了大量的地方性分类群，它们代表了许多明显与澳大利亚生物群有关的古老谱系。该项目将能够清点甲虫，并从物种丰富和受到严重威胁的瓦尔迪亚温带森林中收集许多其他节肢动物。该项目包括树冠雾化。这种方法针对的是那些很少以其他方式采样的物种，这些物种是世界生物多样性的重要和未知的一部分。了解这类群体的分布和多样性对于在南部大陆和智利境内建立生物变化的背景至关重要。此外，人们普遍认识到，这一区域保护不足，并迅速屈服于人类的土地利用做法，即碎片化和土地转换。该项目所产生的关于温带森林的数据和了解将对生物学领域和智利的管理做法产生长期影响。该项目将为分类学和分类学研究提供高质量的标本和数据，从而显著增加涉及分类学、系统发生学、生态学和生物地理学的出版物。该项目的产品将包括一个标本级别的数据库、开发识别钥匙、物种清单、通过互联网广泛获得的信息和图像。该项目将为智利和美国的博物馆提供标本，并将对智利和国际社会的节肢动物研究产生持久的影响。这些收藏是未来研究的重要资源，对于在智利发展活跃的节肢动物生物学家智力社区至关重要。最后，它为智利的保护组织提供了至关重要的生物多样性数据。未来的政策制定、保护规划和教育取决于可用的基线数据。目前，智利完全缺乏节肢动物数据。该项目将解决我们知识中的这一差距，永久性地改变智利和国外的研究和管理进程。美国和智利的本科生和研究生将被纳入整个项目。他们将接受收集方法、标本鉴定和制备、生物信息数据收集和博物馆方法方面的培训。NSF国际科学和工程办公室为这项研究的国际方面提供了联合支持。

This Biotic Survey and Inventory project will be conducted in Chile, a country that is a virtual biotic island and includes one of the world's five major temperate rainforest systems and the only such system in South America. The Chilean temperate forests have been isolated since the Tertiary, resulting in an extraordinary number of endemic taxa that represent many ancient lineages clearly connected to the Australian biota. This project will enable an inventory of beetles, and the collection of many other arthropods from the species rich and critically threatened Valdivian Temperate Forests. The project includes canopy-fogging. This method targets species that are seldom sampled otherwise and are an important and unknown part of the world's biodiversity. Understanding the distribution and diversity of such groups is fundamental to building the context of biotic change in the southern continents and within Chile. Additionally, it is widely recognized that this region is under-protected and rapidly succumbing to human land-use practices, namely fragmentation and land conversion. The data and understanding of the temperate forests resulting from the project will have long-term impacts on the field of biology and Chilean management practices. The project will provide high quality specimens and data for systematics and taxonomic research, resulting in a prominent increase in publications that address taxonomy, phylogeny, ecology, and biogeography. Products of the project will include a specimen-level database, the development of identification keys, species checklists, broadly available information and images via the internet. This project will provide specimens for both Chilean and US museums and will have a lasting impact on arthropod research for Chile and the international community. These collections are vital resources for future research and crucial to developing an active intellectual community of arthropod biologists in Chile. Finally, it provides critically important biodiversity data for Chilean conservation organizations. Future policy-making, conservation planning, and education are dependent on the baseline data available. Presently arthropod data are entirely lacking in Chile. The project will address this gap in our knowledge, permanently changing the course of research and management in Chile and abroad. Both USA and Chilean undergraduate and graduate students will be incorporated throughout this project. They will be trained in collecting methods, specimen identification and preparation, bioinfomatic data collection and museum methods. Joint support for the international aspects of this research was provided by the Office of International Science and Engineering of NSF.