AToL: Collaborative Research: Assembling the Beetle Tree of Life

[00:53 . 17]麦迪逊人类似乎也“对甲虫有一种异乎寻常的喜爱”（引用J.B.S.霍尔丹的话），至少是对这种种类丰富、生活史多样化的昆虫谱系的研究有一种异乎寻常的喜爱。由哈佛大学的布莱恩·法雷尔博士、杨百翰大学的迈克尔·怀廷博士和亚利桑那大学的大卫·麦迪森博士领导的一个研究小组，将与来自世界各地的同事一起，对甲虫（昆虫目鞘翅目）的系统发育进行广泛的研究，以提供甲虫多样化的第一个广泛的视角。甲虫约有35万种已被描述的物种，在世界生物群中占很大比例，在每个陆地生态系统中都占主导地位。甲虫代表了任何陆生生物群体中最多样化和最迅速的辐射，然而我们对它们更深层次的系统发育只有初步的了解，甚至对它们最基本的多样性模式也还不了解。总的来说，甲虫代表了昆虫中几乎所有的食性，包括食草性和食真菌性（以真菌为食），腐食性（以腐烂的物质为食），捕食性和寄生性，对它们的进化史的深入研究将有助于深入了解食性在物种多样性中的作用。该团队由40名全球领先的甲虫研究人员组成，他们拥有几乎所有甲虫谱系的专业知识，他们建议利用三层方法为所有甲虫构建一个框架系统发育（谱系树）。第1层：代表所有主要甲虫谱系的54个样本物种将被广泛取样，以获取特征数据（形态学加上23kb的DNA序列数据，包括完整的线粒体基因组），以提供甲虫主要（超家族）群体之间关系的可靠轮廓。第2层：将对300个额外物种进行形态学采样和12kb的序列数据，以建立甲虫科之间的关系。第3层：将对3000个额外物种进行1.5 kb的DNA序列数据测序，并为其中的一个子集添加形态学，以更好地表征亚科水平上甲虫系统发育的巨大多样性。将开发新的生物信息学工具来简化分子和形态数据的数据处理，并将允许更高的效率、准确性和数据和相关结果的可重复性，同时为世界各地的参与者提供一个在线合作框架。这是鞘翅昆虫学家首次在如此大规模的系统发育项目上进行合作，这项工作将对甲虫的系统发育进行可靠的估计，为这一具有重要生态和经济意义的昆虫群体的分类和信息整合提供预测基础。关于甲虫的各个方面的信息将通过亚利桑那大学的生命之树网站，一个巡回的西班牙语/英语博物馆展览，以及出版物和专题讨论会来传播。本研究将为研究生、本科生和高中生提供培训，其中包括10名女研究员和1名残疾本科生。

0531754Maddison Human beings, also it would appear, have "an inordinate fondness for beetles" (to cite J.B.S. Haldane), at least an inordinate fondness for the study of this species-rich and life-history diverse lineage of insects. A team led by Dr. Brian Farrell at Harvard University, Dr. Michael Whiting at Brigham Young University, and Dr. David Maddison at the University of Arizona, with colleagues from around the world, will conduct an extensive study of beetle (insect order Coleoptera) phylogeny to provide the first broad scale view of beetle diversification. With ca. 350,000 described species, beetles comprise a huge fraction of the world's biota and are dominant in every terrestrial ecosystem. Beetles represent the most diverse and rapid radiation of any terrestrial organismal group, yet we have only a rudimentary knowledge of their deeper level phylogeny, and still do not understand even their most basic patterns of diversity. Collectively, beetles represent nearly every feeding habit among insects including herbivory and fungivory (feeding upon fungi), saprophagy (feeding upon decaying matter), predation and parasitism, and a thorough study of their evolutionary history would provide insight into the role of feeding habits in species diversity. The team of 40 leading beetle researchers worldwide, with expertise in nearly every beetle lineage, proposes to construct a framework phylogeny (genealogical tree) for all beetles, utilizing a 3-tier approach. Tier 1: 54 exemplar species, representing all major beetle lineages, will be sampled extensively for character data (morphology plus 23kb of DNA sequence data including complete mitochondrial genomes) to provide a robust outline of the relationships among the major (superfamily) groups of beetles. Tier 2: 300 additional species will sampled for morphology and 12kb of sequence data to establish relationships among beetle families. Tier 3: 3000 additional species will be sequenced for 1.5 kb of DNA sequence data, with morphology added for a subset of these, to better characterize the grand diversity of beetle phylogeny at the subfamilial level. Novel bioinformatics tools will be developed to streamline data processing for the molecular and morphological data, and will allow for greater efficiency, accuracy, and reproducibility of the data and associated results, while providing an online framework for collaboration by participants throughout the world. This represents the first time that coleopterists have collaborated on such a large-scale phylogenetic project, and the work should result in a robust estimate of beetle phylogeny that will provide a predictive basis for classification and integration of information on this ecologically and economically important group of insects. Information on all aspects of beetles will be disseminated through the Tree-of-Life website hosted at the University of Arizona, a traveling Spanish-language / English-language museum exhibit, and through publications and symposia. This research will provide training for graduate students, undergraduates, and high school students, including 10 female researchers and an undergraduate student with disabilities.