Bees: phylogeny, biogeography and taxonomy

蜜蜂是世界上最重要的传粉者。由于它们的灭绝风险很高，它们还告诉我们环境的状况。此外，由于物种对栖息地的要求不同(食物广度、筑巢地点和材料等)它们可以用来监测特定栖息地变化的影响。虽然西方驯养的蜜蜂是最常见的管理物种，但我们现在知道，在其他20,400多种被描述的物种中，许多在农业上往往更重要。然而，阻碍我们利用蜜蜂多样性的一个主要因素是，在任何分类水平上识别它们都是极其困难的。有几个问题构成了鉴定方面的挑战，包括1)物种之间的形态相似，2)缺乏鉴定工具/质量差，以及3)分类的持续变化(在属一级可能是每年一次，甚至在科一级也太频繁了)。分类应该以系统发育为基础，但基于形态和遗传数据的结果之间存在很大差异。因此，我们的研究目标是：1)通过分类密集的总证据系统发育来稳定蜜蜂分类，并利用结果来了解导致目前蜜蜂分布的地质/古环境/生物地理事件，以及3)开发和提供用户友好的识别工具。1.将涉及使用我们的广泛收藏，其中包括世界上35%的蜜蜂物种和93%的属。我们将评估数百种形态特征，我们将使用最近开发的方法，从每个属的至少一个成员中产生数百到数千个基因序列，这些方法甚至适用于几十年前收集的微小钉住的昆虫。它将为长期分类提供坚实的基础。2.目标1产生的系统发育将经过时间校准，使我们能够探测到特定地理分离的起源。然后，我们将能够寻找与断裂重合的地质或古环境事件。这项工作将在世界蜜蜂的普通水平上进行，在智利的物种水平上进行。3.将涉及扩大蜜蜂的DNA条码库，并为特定国家(最终是全世界)的蜜蜂属制作以图像为导向、用户友好的识别指南。这些钥匙将被转变为免费提供的在线应用程序，模仿电脑游戏，并将在文化上特定于目标国家/地区/影响的游戏风格偏好。我们研究的全球性吸引了全世界的兴趣。开发可通过形态学和DNA交叉验证的用户友好的身份识别工具的实际重要性怎么强调都不为过。全世界对这些信息的需求是巨大的。我们将开发的方法应该为任何具有挑战性的生物体群体设定识别程序的标准。

Bees are the most important pollinators in the world. Because of their high extinction risk, they also inform us about the state of the environment. Additionally, as species differ in habitat requirements (diet breadth, nest sites & materials, etc.) they can be used to monitor the effects of specific habitat changes. Although the western domesticated honey bee is the most commonly managed species, we now know that many of the other 20,400+ described species are often agriculturally more important. However, a major factor that impedes our use of bee diversity is the fact that their identification at any taxonomic level is extremely hard. Several issues contribute to identification challenges, including 1) morphological similarities among species, 2) absence/poor quality of identification tools, and 3) ongoing changes to their classifications (which can be annual at the generic level, and far too frequent even at the family level). Classifications should be based upon phylogenies, but there are large discrepancies between results based upon morphological and genetic data. Thus, our research objectives are to: 1) stabilize bee classification through a taxonomically dense total evidence phylogeny and use the results to 2) understand the geological/palaeoenvironmental /biogeographic events that led to current bee distributions and 3) develop and provide user-friendly identification tools. 1. Will involve use of our extensive collection which houses >35% of the world's bee species and >93% of the genera. Hundreds of morphological characteristics will be assessed, and we will generate hundreds to thousands of gene sequences from at least one member of each genus using recently developed methods that work even for minute pinned insects that were collected decades ago. It will provide a robust basis for a long-lasting classification. 2. The phylogeny resulting from objective 1 will be time calibrated permitting us to detect when particular geographic disjunctions originated. We will then be able to look for the geological or palaeoenvironmental events that coincide with the disjunctions. This work will be at the generic level for the bees of the world, species level for Chile. 3. Will involve augmenting the DNA barcode library for bees and generating image-driven, user-friendly identification guides for the bee genera of specific countries (eventually the whole world). These keys will be turned into freely available online apps that mimic computer games and will be culturally specific to the gaming style preferences in the target country/ies/ IMPACT. The global nature of our research attracts worldwide interest. The practical importance of generating user-friendly identification tools that can be cross-validated by morphology and DNA cannot be overstated. There is enormous need for this information throughout the world. The approaches we will develop should set the standard for identification procedures for any challenging group of organisms.