Research Starter Grant: Why are mountains so diverse? An evolutionary biogeographic study of high elevation herptiles in the Brazilian Atlantic forest hotspot

该项目将检验这样的假设，即山区在爬行动物和两栖动物区系中具有特有的生物多样性，因为它们㈠由于地形和环境的复杂性而在给定的地理尺度上促进物种形成，㈡在气候波动下为增加种群的持久性和隔离提供机会。这项研究结合了实地考察，在巴西的高原地区，收集数据，物种分布模型，比较生态地理学，微生境利用的研究，和生理实验。在产生关于一个鲜为人知的热带地区及其动物群的新的和急需的数据的同时，这个项目扩展和测试了一个过程的通用性-该项目将为巴西大西洋森林热点山区的研究重点和保护提供信息，并为评估对未来气候的反应提供重要的基线数据变化纽约市立大学本科生和研究生的教育和培训机会将鼓励代表性不足的群体的学生参加这一项目。美国和巴西机构之间的合作将得到加强，并将在巴西和热带地区的科学和保护方面取得新的进展。

This project will test the hypotheses that mountains have endemic biodiversity in reptile and amphibian fauna because they i) facilitate speciation at a given geographic scale because of topographic and environmental complexity, and ii) provide opportunities for increased population persistence and isolation under climatic fluctuations. This research combines field work in poorly explored highland regions of Brazil, collection data, species distribution models, comparative phylogeography, studies of microhabitat use, and physiological experiments. While generating new and much needed data about a poorly known tropical region and its fauna, this project expands and tests the generality of a process-based method of biodiversity prediction formalized in the PI's postdoctoral work on lowland diversity in Brazil.This project will inform research priorities and conservation in montane regions of the Brazilian Atlantic forest hotspot and provide important baseline data for assessing responses to future climate change. Education and training opportunities to CUNY undergraduate and graduate students will encourage students from underrepresented groups to participate in this project. Collaborations between US and Brazilian institutions will be strengthened and will lead to new advances in science and conservation in Brazil and the tropics.