DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Phylogenetic community ecology and diversification of hyperoliid frogs in the Afrotropics

非洲的低地雨林和山地森林具有丰富的生物多样性，但人们对产生这种高度多样性的生态过程知之甚少。关于这些不同的森林栖息地是否在产生或维持多样性，以及哪些生态因素限制了特定地区发现的物种数量，存在相当大的争论。有人提出，西非历史上稳定的低地雨林维持了原有的多样性，而东非环境波动的山地森林促进了物种形成和新多样性的产生。这个项目用高脂蛙来验证这个假设，哪些是非洲？蛙科最丰富，在林区物种丰富度最高。该研究将通过研究在给定的森林群落中发现的高脂蛙的种类数量，量化这些物种之间的生态相似性，并确定群落中物种的进化关系和年龄，来研究促进多样性的因素。比较分布在相似生物地理区域以及不同类型森林（如高海拔山地森林和低地雨林）的高脂蛙群落，可以揭示热带非洲的大规模多样化模式。青蛙被用作指示物种，它们在环境中的存在与否提供了对环境完整性的评估。对大多数非洲国家来说，大规模森林砍伐的威胁迫在眉睫，栖息地的改变将对大量森林栖息物种产生负面影响。通过对非洲不同生物地理区域高脂蛙群落的特征分析，本研究将为今后的监测和保护工作建立基线。在许多非洲国家进行大规模的研究在后勤和财政上都有要求，因此在非洲工作的科学家群体内部建立和促进互动是至关重要的。该项目是在美国、欧洲和非洲的研究机构或大学工作的22多名研究人员共同努力的结果，并汇集了不同的研究人员群体，将促进未来在类似项目上的合作努力。

The lowland rainforests and montane forests of Africa are rich with biodiversity, but little is known about the ecological processes that have produced this high diversity. There is considerable debate about whether these different forest habitats are generating or maintaining diversity, and what ecological factors limit the number of species found in a given area. It has been proposed that the historically stable lowland rainforests of West Africa act to sustain old diversity, whereas the environmentally fluctuating montane forests of East Africa promote speciation and the generation of new diversity. This project tests that hypothesis using Hyperoliid frogs, which are Africa?s most diverse frog family, exhibiting the highest species richness in forested regions. The research will examine the factors promoting diversity by studying the number of species of hyperoliid frogs found in a given forest community, quantifying how ecologically similar those species are to one another, and determining the evolutionary relationships and ages of the species in the community. Comparing hyperoliid frog communities distributed across similar biogeographic regions as well across different kinds of forests, such as high elevation mountain forests and lowland rainforests, can uncover large-scale patterns of diversification in tropical Africa.Frogs have been used as indicator species, whose presence or absence in an environment provides an assessment of the environmental integrity. The threat of large-scale deforestation is immediate for most African countries, and habitat alteration will negatively impact the large numbers of forest dwelling species. By characterizing communities of hyperoliid frogs in different biogeographic regions in Africa, this study will establish a baseline for future monitoring and conservation efforts. Large-scale research across many African countries is both logistically and financially demanding, and therefore it is critical to establish and facilitate interactions within the community of researchers working in Africa. This project is the result of a major collaborative effort among over 22 researchers working in research institutions or universities located in the US, Europe, and Africa, and brings together a diverse group of researchers that will facilitate future cooperative efforts on similar projects.