CAREER:Why Are Species Where They Are? Identifying the Interplay of the Evolutionary, Environmental, and Biotic Mechanisms Driving Niche Diversification in Oedipodinae Grasshoppers

该奖项全部或部分由2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。物种的地理范围是其最重要的特征之一。这一范围主要由物种的生态位决定，生态位代表适合物种生存和繁殖的环境条件（如温度、降水或植被）。例如，印度虎的生态位表现为高温，高降水和茂密的植被。有时，相似的物种有着非常不同的生态位。雪豹的生态位与老虎的生态位非常不同，尽管这两个物种密切相关。当两个相关物种的生态位不同时，可以说这些生态位已经分化。但是，两个相似物种之间的生态位有多大的差异？在这里，研究人员将探索来自整个北美的150多种蝗虫之间的生态位差异。从该项目中获得的知识和工具将适用于与重要主题有关的各种问题，如物种多样性（为什么热带地区有这么多物种？），物种保护（一个物种能承受多大的环境变化？），或人类健康（热带疾病会传播到气候温和的地区吗？）。该项目将提供高中、本科、研究生和博士后水平的生态学和进化最先进方法的研究和教育机会。尽管理解生态位分歧在生态学和进化领域的重要性，但生态位分歧的定量和定性特征以及驱动其进化的机制尚未得到全面的探索。这项研究将通过一个新的理论和分析框架来解决知识差距，分类和量化分类群之间的生态位分歧。这个新的分类系统1）有望提高对不同类型的生态位分歧的理解; 2）可以应用于任何生态系统或生物群; 3）可以用来解决各种各样的生态和进化问题。该框架将被用来探讨进化，环境和生物因素驱动的生态位分歧，在蝗虫亚科Oedipodinae，作为一个模型系统。具体的教育目标包括推进在STEM领域取得成功所必需的生物信息学素养，提供使用各种大数据的应用技能，并培养跨学科的学生，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查进行评估来支持的搜索.

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).The geographic range of a species is one of its most important characteristics. Such a range is primarily determined by the ecological niche of the species, which represents the environmental conditions (such as temperature, precipitation, or vegetation) that are suitable for the species and allow it to survive and reproduce. For example, the ecological niche of the Indian tiger is represented by high temperature, high precipitation, and dense vegetation. Sometimes, similar species have very different ecological niches. The ecological niche of the snow leopard is very different from that of the tiger, even though the two species are closely related. When ecological niches differ between two related species, it can be said that these ecological niches have diverged. But how much and in what ways do ecological niches diverge between two similar species? Here, the researcher will explore niche divergence among more than 150 species of grasshoppers from throughout North America. The knowledge and tools gained from this project will be applicable to a broad variety of questions related to important topics, such as species diversity (why are there so many species in the tropics?), species conservation (how much change in environmental conditions can a species endure?), or human health (can a tropical disease spread to areas with moderate climates?). The project will provide research and educational opportunities in state-of-the-art methods in ecology and evolution at the high school, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels.Despite the importance of understanding niche divergence in the fields of ecology and evolution, quantitative and qualitative characteristics of niche divergence and the mechanisms that drive their evolution have not been explored in a comprehensive way. This research will address knowledge gaps via a new theoretical and analytical framework to classify and quantify ecological niche divergence between taxa. This new classification system 1) promises to enhance understanding of different types of niche divergence; 2) can be applied to any ecosystem or group of organisms; and 3) can be used to address a broad variety of ecological and evolutionary questions. The framework will be used to explore the evolutionary, environmental, and biotic factors driving niche divergence in grasshoppers in the subfamily Oedipodinae, as a model system. Specific educational goals include advancing bioinformatics literacy necessary for success in STEM fields, providing applied skills to work with a variety of big data, and training students in interdisciplinary, integrative approaches for understanding patterns of biodiversity and advancing conservation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.