Forecasting biodiversity losses in Wallacea from ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes.
Lead Research Organisation:
Bangor University
Department Name: Sch of Natural Sciences
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Planned Impact
Developing management options that can mitigate against the potential loss of Wallacea's incredibly high levels of biodiversity and endemism is vital - not only for preserving the highly unique evolutionary lineages there, but also for protecting the many ecosystem services that biodiversity provides within the region. This project focuses on the co-development of models of the historical, contemporary, and future drivers of Wallacea's unique taxa. The project can result in a number of important impacts and we will put in place mechanisms such that these impacts can be delivered during and after this particular project has ended.
Development need for a new modelling approach: Many organisations and individuals working across a broad range of sectors can benefit from an increased understanding of how best to protect biodiversity in Wallacea. Sectors that can benefit include tourism, especially the rapidly growing ecotourism sector, agriculture and agroforestry (for example, pollination and pest control services are much better delivered by a rich and healthy natural biota), and organisations tasked with conservation management (e.g. National Parks, conservation NGO's and provincial governments). They will all benefit by being able to co-develop and apply the novel spatial planning tool ForeWall that will be produced during this project.
Our soil microbial research has further potential benefits to several industries, including biotechnology companies, interested in the physiology and ecology of microorganisms. For example, this project will contribute significantly to understanding of the spatial distribution of archaeal and bacterial nitrifiers, including recently discovered Comammox organisms, for which metabolism understanding is still at its infancy. Greater understanding of their distribution and associated trials of cultivation may lead on a longer-term basis to the discovery of novel genes and gene products, with potential economic impact for pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries.
Furthermore, our project is designed to facilitate development of the scientific capabilities of Indonesian ecologists and evolutionary biologists in a way that can provide lasting benefits to the academic community itself as well as to a range of stakeholders that can benefit from stronger local expertise in spatial ecology and evolutionary biology, in particular in the application of models to inform policies aimed at balancing the competing needs of different sectors for land use. Specifically, we will provide two training courses to Indonesian participants (both available for up to 20 participants). One will be focused on connectivity and spatial population modelling and will draw on successful previous courses that we have run in Europe, North and South America and in China. The second will focus on the application of phylogenetic analyses.
Impacts outside of Wallacea: While this project focuses on Wallacea, the functionality in ForeWall can have utility in many other regions. Comparing spatial prioritisation of areas for protected status when they are gained using a model such as ForeWall with those delivered using existing methods will be of substantial interest in any region where there has been substantial diversification. As such a wide community of organisations with interests in protecting biodiversity are likely to benefit from the availability of the ForeWall software. As well as a paper presenting ForeWall, we will run workshops introducing the software at major international conferences to potentially include, ESEB, IALE and SCB. IALE and SCB are both particularly good venues for publicising the availability of the software to a mixed audience of both academics and conservation organisations or spatial planners.
Development need for a new modelling approach: Many organisations and individuals working across a broad range of sectors can benefit from an increased understanding of how best to protect biodiversity in Wallacea. Sectors that can benefit include tourism, especially the rapidly growing ecotourism sector, agriculture and agroforestry (for example, pollination and pest control services are much better delivered by a rich and healthy natural biota), and organisations tasked with conservation management (e.g. National Parks, conservation NGO's and provincial governments). They will all benefit by being able to co-develop and apply the novel spatial planning tool ForeWall that will be produced during this project.
Our soil microbial research has further potential benefits to several industries, including biotechnology companies, interested in the physiology and ecology of microorganisms. For example, this project will contribute significantly to understanding of the spatial distribution of archaeal and bacterial nitrifiers, including recently discovered Comammox organisms, for which metabolism understanding is still at its infancy. Greater understanding of their distribution and associated trials of cultivation may lead on a longer-term basis to the discovery of novel genes and gene products, with potential economic impact for pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries.
Furthermore, our project is designed to facilitate development of the scientific capabilities of Indonesian ecologists and evolutionary biologists in a way that can provide lasting benefits to the academic community itself as well as to a range of stakeholders that can benefit from stronger local expertise in spatial ecology and evolutionary biology, in particular in the application of models to inform policies aimed at balancing the competing needs of different sectors for land use. Specifically, we will provide two training courses to Indonesian participants (both available for up to 20 participants). One will be focused on connectivity and spatial population modelling and will draw on successful previous courses that we have run in Europe, North and South America and in China. The second will focus on the application of phylogenetic analyses.
Impacts outside of Wallacea: While this project focuses on Wallacea, the functionality in ForeWall can have utility in many other regions. Comparing spatial prioritisation of areas for protected status when they are gained using a model such as ForeWall with those delivered using existing methods will be of substantial interest in any region where there has been substantial diversification. As such a wide community of organisations with interests in protecting biodiversity are likely to benefit from the availability of the ForeWall software. As well as a paper presenting ForeWall, we will run workshops introducing the software at major international conferences to potentially include, ESEB, IALE and SCB. IALE and SCB are both particularly good venues for publicising the availability of the software to a mixed audience of both academics and conservation organisations or spatial planners.
People |
ORCID iD |
Alexander Papadopulos (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Herrera-Alsina L
(2021)
Ancient geological dynamics impact neutral biodiversity accumulation and are detectable in phylogenetic reconstructions
in Global Ecology and Biogeography
Herrera-Alsina L
(2022)
The missing link in biogeographic reconstruction: Accounting for lineage extinction rewrites history
in Journal of Biogeography
Mynard P
(2023)
Impact of Phylogenetic Tree Completeness and Mis-specification of Sampling Fractions on Trait Dependent Diversification Models
in Systematic Biology
Osborne O
(2022)
Fauxcurrence: simulating multi-species occurrences for null models in species distribution modelling and biogeography
in Ecography
Struebig MJ
(2022)
Safeguarding Imperiled Biodiversity and Evolutionary Processes in the Wallacea Center of Endemism.
in Bioscience
Description | We have developed a new method that enables improved understanding of the geographical origins of different groups of species. Previous methods used to make this type of inference ignored the fact that many species have gone extinct through evolutionary history and thus the conclusions are solely based on the current species, where they currently occur and their genetic relationships to one another. Our new method accounts for past extinctions in reconstructing past spatial distributions of ancestral species. Using this method we have discovered that hummingbirds are most likely to have initially colonised and begun diversifying in N America. This is an important result given substantial debate around the geographic origins of this large and important group of birds. We have subsequently applied this same method to multiple groups of organisms in SE Asia. Our results are striking! Whereas previous studies have suggested that different groups of organisms have varied geographic origins, our findings show far greater consistency in the geographic origins of different groups and this finding provides reconciliation with recent advances in our geological understanding of this key region for biodiversity. |
Exploitation Route | The method that is described above is likely to receive wide usage in the many evolutionary studies that seek to understand the geographical histories of lineages. This is already happening with several researcher groups having already begun to collaborate with us (specifically with Leonel Herrera-Alsina) on projects that apply the novel method we developed. This includes a group exploring the role of Antarctica in generating current spatial patterns of biodiversity even for groups for which the continent is now totally inhospitable. It also includes a Chinese group studying the generation and maintenance of biodiversity across upland regions in China - they are sending one of their PDRAs to Aberdeen to work on this topic with us. We envisage the method will receive increasingly broad interest and use. The software generated and data created are highly likely to be used in conservation planning and development in Indonesia. |
Sectors | Education,Environment |
Title | Fauxcurrence |
Description | This is an R package for simulating null models of multi-species biogeographic distributions to be used in hypothesis testing for a range of questions. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Groups now starting to make use of it. A Julia version has been developed and published by another group that enhances processing speed - the algorithm is identical to that we developed. |
URL | https://rdrr.io/github/ogosborne/fauxcurrence/f/doc/Using-Fauxcurrence.Rmd |
Title | LEMAD |
Description | see paper at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jbi.14489 This is a first method for reconstructing biogeographic histories of clades while accounting for extinct lineages. It is an R package. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | These will be coming downstream - collaborations have already started with groups very excited to apply the new method. |
URL | https://github.com/leonelhalsina/lemad |
Title | Sulawesi Caridina whole genome sequencing |
Description | Whole genome sequencing for 240 individuals of Caridina species from Sulawesi. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | None |
Title | Sulawesi Cyrtandra whole genome sequencing |
Description | Whole genome sequencing for 30 individuals from Sulawesi Cyrtandra species |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | none |
Description | Caridina collaboration - TvR |
Organisation | Natural History Museum, Berlin |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Planned project and generated genomic data for Sulawesi shrimp species |
Collaborator Contribution | Thomas von Rintelen provided samples for DNA extraction and Sequencing |
Impact | genomic data for 240 Caridina specimens |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Cyrtandra collaboration - HA |
Organisation | Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | DNA extraction and sequencing of 30 species of Cyrtandra from Sulawesi |
Collaborator Contribution | Hanna Atkins provided tissue samples DNA extraction and sequencing of 30 species of Cyrtandra from Sulawesi |
Impact | Whole genome sequencing for 30 species of cyrtandra from Sulawesi |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | FOREWALL - Bogor |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Initial workshop for the project to bring together researchers and stakeholders from Indonesia with UK researchers to plan the project, codevelop outputs and exchange knowledge. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Phylogenetics - Bogor |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 45 Indonesian students, researchers and third sector workers trained in the theory and application of phylogenetic to address ecological and evolutionary questions, and to apply these techniques to conservation. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Phylogenetics - Manado |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 30 Indonesian students, researchers and third sector workers trained in the theory and application of phylogenetic to address ecological and evolutionary questions, and to apply these techniques to conservation. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Rangeshifter - BOGOR |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 25 Indonesian students, researchers and third sector workers trained in the theory and application of individual based models to address ecological and evolutionary questions, and to apply these techniques to conservation and land management planning |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Wallacea Consortium - Wrap up |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Consoritum meeting of all Wallacea programme projects for interaction and knowledge exchange between UK and Indonesian researchers, Third sector and policy makers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Wallacea consortium - kick off |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Consoritum meeting of all Wallacea programme projects for interaction and knowledge exchange between UK and Indonesian researchers, Third sector and policy makers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |