Collaborative Research: ASSESSING THE SYSTEMATICS AND DIVERSITY OF HAEMOSPORIDA IN AFRICAN LIZARDS

研究共生体的多样性为观察相互依赖的生物之间的生态和进化动态提供了一个独特的窗口。此外，就像煤矿中的金丝雀一样，共栖生物的宿主转换可能会揭示导致宿主感染疾病的新风险因素。另一方面，共生生物的灭绝可以告诉我们环境变化的影响。然而，关于共生体多样性的信息是有限的，因为它们是相对未被充分研究的生物。这个项目调查了撒哈拉以南非洲的蜥蜴和它们的血孢子虫共生体。血孢子虫是一种多种媒介传播的原生动物共生体，存在于世界上几乎所有生态系统的陆生脊椎动物中。尽管一些物种因其与鸟类和人类疟疾的联系而被研究，但非洲蜥蜴中的血孢子虫共生体却鲜为人知。本项目为研究生和本科生提供培训机会。非洲蜥蜴的地方组合包括不同程度的生态和系统发育独特性的分类群。与鸟类不同的是，蜥蜴的分布范围并不广，当地的种群多样性也较低。这些特征减少了宿主物种普查的偏见，使我们能够测试有关驱动宿主/共生生物多样性因素的假设。因此，本研究的目的是：(1)通过整合形态学、分子和生态学数据的方法来提高我们对血红孢子虫物种划分的理解；(2)通过研究宿主分支中新发现的血红孢子虫物种在不同生物群落中的分布，对驱动血红孢子虫物种多样性的过程产生新的认识；(3)通过制定共生体-宿主数据整合标准来丰富生物多样性科学。(4)利用新的标本和元数据获取区域爬行动物区系知识。该研究将血红菌视为生物多样性的真正组成部分，而不是宿主的性状或病原体，将为区域进化和生态过程提供新的见解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Studying the diversity of symbionts offers a unique window to observe ecological and evolutionary dynamics between interdependent organisms. Further, like a canary in a coal mine, host switching by symbionts may reveal emerging risk factors leading to infectious diseases in hosts. On the other hand, extinction of symbionts inform can inform us about the impacts of environmental change. Information on symbionts diversity is limited, however, since they are relatively understudied organisms. This project investigates lizards and their haemosporidian symbionts in sub-Saharan Africa. Haemosporida is a diverse group of vector-borne protozoan symbionts found in terrestrial vertebrates in almost all world ecosystems. Although some species have been studied because of their link to malaria in birds and humans, haemosporidian symbionts in African lizards are poorly known. This project provides training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students. Local assemblages of African lizards include sets of taxa differing in degree of ecological and phylogenetic distinctiveness. Unlike birds, lizards do not disperse broadly, and local assemblages are less diverse. These characteristics reduce bias in host species censuses, allowing us to test hypotheses about the factors driving host/symbiont biodiversity. Thus, this study aims to (1) advance our understanding of Haemosporida species delimitation by formalizing an approach that integrates morphological, molecular, and ecological data, (2) generate new knowledge on the processes driving haemosporidian species diversity by studying newly detected Haemosporida species in host clades across their distribution in distinct biomes, (3) enrich biodiversity sciences by developing standards for symbiont-host data integration, and (4) generate knowledge on the regional herpetofauna with new specimens and metadata. This study will provide new insights into regional evolutionary and ecological processes by considering Haemosporida as true elements of biodiversity rather than as traits or pathogens of their hosts.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.