Systematics and Comparative Biology of Aquatic Insects

淡水覆盖了不到1%的地球表面，但却拥有所有已知动物物种的10%--其中大部分(60%)是水生昆虫。大约10万种水生昆虫可能只占实际数量的一半，它们很可能占水生动物多样性的近80%。昆虫作为主要的消费者、食害性动物和捕食者，在水生食物网中扮演着至关重要的角色。它们支撑着脊椎动物和无脊椎动物的捕食者，是环境质量的晴雨表。由于淡水栖息地被广泛认为是地球上最受威胁的栖息地之一，重要的是更好地了解水生昆虫的生物多样性及其在生态系统功能中所起的作用。到目前为止，真蝇(双翅目)是淡水生物多样性的最大贡献者，占所有水生昆虫的一半以上。其中包括吸血苍蝇(如蚊子、黑蝇、瓢虫和叮咬的蚊子)，它们是对人类和其他动物传播疾病的最严重的媒介。由于分类学是所有涉及有机体的科学学科的基础，因此记录这些具有重要医学意义的昆虫尤为重要。安大略省皇家博物馆拥有世界一流的蜻蜓和蜻蜓(蜻蜓目)、毛翅目(毛翅目)和黑蝇(双翅目：姬蜂科)的藏品，为这些重要的水生昆虫群体的分类学和生态学研究提供了一个出色的场所。 系统学通过建立解释生物体的特性和活动的概念框架，统一了生物学的所有领域。由系统学家开发的分类整合了许多学科中关于物种的比较信息，从分子生物学和生态学到资源管理和健康科学。虽然分类、系统发育分析和分类等活动仍然是我的计划的核心，但我的研究的一个主要目标是提供一个更合理的基础来解释进化、生态和行为现象。拟议的研究特别侧重于我正在进行的关于黑蝇(双翅目：姬蜂科)的系统学和进化的研究--这是一个具有相当重要的医学和兽医学意义的群体。项目1将澄清澳大利亚黑蝇原始谱系的分类和关系，为构建该科的自然分类提供更可靠的基础。项目2旨在使用新的分析工具来量化黑蝇形态结构中的形状变化。我预计，系统发育信号将在一些长期被忽视的特征系统中被检测到，这将为进化研究提供迄今尚未开发的信息来源。这种方法将特别有利于化石的研究，因为化石的形态特征往往是模糊的，或者是无法评估的。 就分类而言，黑蝇可以说是北美最完全了解的昆虫群体；然而，许多物种缺乏基本的生态信息--特别是在加拿大北部。随着人们对全球气候变化影响的日益关注，解决这一医学上重要的昆虫群体的知识差距变得越来越重要。为了解决这一不足，我在加拿大北极提出了两个以生态为导向的项目。项目3旨在更好地了解是什么限制了吸血物种的分布，从而能够预测北方迁徙的速度。这些数据对野生动物管理具有重要影响。项目4更进一步，评估了北方种类的吸血黑蝇的宿主偏好和媒介潜力。

Freshwater covers less than 1% of the Earth’s surface yet harbors 10% of all known animal species — the majority (60%) of which are aquatic insects. The roughly 100,000 species of aquatic insects likely represent half the actual number, and it is likely they constitute closer to 80% of aquatic animal diversity. Insects play a vital role in aquatic food webs as primary consumers, detritivores and predators. They sustain both vertebrate and invertebrate predators and serve as barometers of environmental quality. As freshwater habitats are widely recognized as among the most threatened on Earth, it is important to gain a better understanding of aquatic insect biodiversity and the role they play in ecosystem function. True flies (order Diptera) are by far the largest contributor to freshwater biodiversity, constituting more than half of all aquatic insects. Among these are the bloodsucking flies (e.g., mosquitoes, black flies, tabanids and biting midges), which include among the most serious vectors of disease to humans and other animals. As taxonomy is the foundation of all scientific disciplines dealing with organisms, it is especially important to document these medically important insects. The Royal Ontario Museum — with its world-class collections of dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata), caddisflies (Trichoptera) and black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) — provide an outstanding venue for taxonomic and ecological studies of these important groups of aquatic insects. Systematics unifies all areas of biology by establishing a conceptual framework for interpreting the properties and activities of organisms. Classifications developed by systematists integrate comparative information about species across many disciplines, ranging from molecular biology and ecology to resource management and health sciences. Although activities such as taxonomy, phylogenetic analysis and classification continue to be at the core of my program, a primary objective my research is to provide a sounder basis from which to interpret evolutionary, ecological and behavioral phenomena. The proposed research focuses particularly on my on-going investigations into the systematics and evolution of black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) — a group of considerable medical and veterinary importance. Project 1 will clarify the taxonomy and relationships of primitive lineages of Australian black flies, providing a sounder basis from which to construct a natural classification of the family. Project 2 aims to use new analytical tools to quantify shape variation in morphological structures of black flies. I anticipate that phylogenetic signal will be detected in a number of long-neglected character systems, providing a hitherto untapped source of information for evolutionary studies. This approach will be especially beneficial for the study of fossils, in which morphological characters are often obscured or otherwise impossible to evaluate. Black flies are arguably the most completely know group of insects in North America in terms of their taxonomy; however, basic ecological information is lacking for many species — especially in northern Canada. With growing concern about the effects of global climate change it is increasingly important to address knowledge gaps in this medically important group of insects. In order to address this deficiency, I propose two ecologically oriented projects in the Canadian arctic. Project 3 aims to gain a better understanding of what limits the distribution of bloodsucking species, allowing predictions to be made about the rate of northern migration. These data have important implications for wildlife management. Project 4 goes a step farther by assessing host preferences and vector potential among northern species of bloodsucking black flies.