RUI: SBBI: Phylogenetic effect on host use within generalist herbivores: a case study using marine amphipods in the family Ampithoidae (Crustacea: Amphipoda)

这个奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)资助的。一般来说，所有食草动物都消耗有限的可用植物子集，我们预测食草动物对自然系统影响的能力取决于对这些饮食选择的进化的理解。尽管大多数海洋食草动物和许多陆地昆虫都是饮食通才，但进化谱系对植物选择的影响很少被测试。目前的项目将产生DNA数据，以研究蛇形科双足类草食动物的进化关系，以评估这一类群的饮食和解剖特征的进化。这项提议将产生几个更广泛的影响。首先，这项工作推进了一组具有生态重要性的海洋无脊椎动物的系统学研究。其次，这笔赠款将培训和聘用几名年轻科学家，其中包括查尔斯顿学院的四名本科生和一名硕士学生，从事生物多样性研究。由于世界各地博物馆的工作人员数量有限，迫切需要对科学家进行分类研究的分子工具方面的培训。第三，这项拟议的工作扩大了与发展中国家和发达国家的国际合作。我们计划在同行评议的期刊和网络中传播我们的数据，包括甲壳类生物学家全球重要的分类信息中心(http://crustacea.net)，)，并增加来自仍未得到充分代表的地理区域的蛇形类动物的分类信息。

"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."Amphipods are common herbivorous crustaceans found in both marine and freshwater habitats. As a rule, all herbivores consume a restricted subset of available plants, and our ability to predict herbivore impacts on natural systems depends on understanding the evolution of these diet choices. Although most marine herbivores and many terrestrial insects are diet generalists, the influence of evolutionary lineage on plant choices are tested rarely. The current project will generate DNA data to examine evolutionary relationships of amphipod herbivores in the family Ampithoidae in order to assess the evolution of diet and anatomical features in this group.The proposal will have several broader impacts. First, the work advances the systematics of an ecologically-important group of marine invertebrates. Second, the grant will train and employ several young scientists, including four undergraduate students and a Masters student from the College of Charleston, in biodiversity research. With limited numbers of staff in museums worldwide, there is an urgent need for training scientists in the molecular tools of taxonomic research. Third, this proposed work extends international collaborations with developing and developed countries. We plan to disseminate our data within peer-reviewed journals and the web, including a globally important center of taxonomic information for crustacean biologists (http://crustacea.net), and to add taxonomic information for ampithoids from the geographic regions that remain under-represented.