Christopher H. Dietrich - US grants

9870187 Dietrich Temperate grasslands are the most threatened of the world's ecosystems; thus, efforts to document the biodiversity of those remaining are urgently needed. Among the few remaining unspoiled temperate grasslands, the steppes of Central Asia are the least well studied, and scientists in the region currently lack the resources necessary to document the fauna effectively. The paucity of specimens from this region in western European and U.S. collections continues to impede research on the Holarctic flora and fauna. This project is a collaborative effort by U.S., Russian, and Kyrgyz scientists to inventory vascular plants and arthropods in the grasslands of Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet Republic situated near the borders of four major desert regions, comprising a transition zone between the Palearctic and Oriental realms, and encompassing a variety of grassland types arranged along steep elevational/climatic gradients. The primary specific goals of the project are: (1) to collect specimens of as many species of arthropods and vascular plants as possible and estimate the diversity of these groups in Central Asian grasslands; (2) to document ecological interactions (e.g., herbivore-host plant) among plants and arthropods in this region; and (3) to provide a searchable, GIS-linked, Internet-accessible database of the grassland flora and arthropod fauna of Kyrgyzstan as well as published checklists and identification guides for selected taxa. The specimens and information generated will aid in identifying conservation needs, provide reference data for comparison to other grassland regions (particularly the more intensively studied Nearctic prairies), and facilitate comprehensive treatments of the vascular flora and arthropod fauna of the Holarctic.

9726282 Dietrich Molecular Phylogeny of Membracoidea (Insecta: Hemiptera): A Test of Alternative Evolutionary Scenarios Comprising over 25,000 described species, the Membracoidea (leafhoppers and treehoppers) are a highly diverse and successful lineage of plant-feeding insects. Conflicting morphology-based hypotheses of phylogenetic relationship have hindered attempts to understand the evolutionary origins of various unique ecological and behavioral characteristics (e.g., ant-mutualism, parental care, anointing behavior) and the possible roles that the acquisition or loss of such traits played in the diversification of the group. This project will provide increased resolution of the phylogenetic relationships among membracoid family-group taxa by adding characters from nuclear ribosomal (28S) and protein-coding (elongation factor l-alpha) gene sequences for a large sample of leafhopper and treehopper species. Analyses of these data will address a number of long-standing questions, including: (1) Did the initial divergence of treehoppers coincide with the loss ofjumping ability and acquisition of a sessile, cryptic juvenile stage, or are these retained ancestral characteristicsT; (2) Did treehoppers arise prior to the break-up of Gondwana, as implied by one morphology-based phylogeny, or did this lineage arise in South America after the isolation of that continent, as implied by the fossil record?; (3) Did shifts in habitat, host, and/or feeding stragegy promote the diversification of certain leafhopper and treehopper groups?; and (4) Were ant mutualism and egg-guarding behavior acquired independently in several different lineages?

9978026
Dietrich and Deitz
This Partnership for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy (PEET) award supports a team approach to taxonomic monography, student training, and databasing directed toward the Membracoidea group of insects, with about 25,000 published species names and estimates up to 250,000 of the actual number of species worldwide. These are the leafhoppers and treehoppers, insects with piercing and sucking mouthparts that feed on plant sap; many of these are pests in agricultural and agro-forestry systems or serve as vectors of plant disease. Despite their great diversity and ecological significance, the taxonomy, classification, and understanding of phylogenetic relationships in this large group of insects are in need of study, and the number of trained specialists is small. This PEET project addresses that need with a program of research and training, including morphological and molecular (DNA sequencing) methods, field expeditions to collect new material, study of existing museum collections, and databasing of information on the taxonomy, phylogeny, geographic distribution, and host affiliations of these insects. The team is led by Christopher Dietrich of the Illinois Natural History Survey and Lewis Deitz of North Carolina State University and includes colleagues at the USDA-Smithsonian (Stuart McKamey) and elsewhere.
Pioneering work on the molecular phylogenetics of membracoid insects by the investigators has helped delimit lineages which can serve as challenging but manageable thesis topics for graduate students' research in modern taxonomic monography. Study of extensive museum holdings will be supplemented with field expeditions to regions in Southeast Asia and in Mexico and Central America, where the diversity is poorly represented in existing collections. Morphological and molecular characters will be integrated as part of monographic and revisionary analyses, with attention to synthesizing information from the older literature and resolving nomenclatural problems at species, genus, and family ranks. An extensive program of databasing builds upon computer resources and digital-library expertise at North Carolina State University, which will include an ambitious web-searchable inventory of taxonomic literature on membracoid insects numbering in the thousands of documents.

DEB-0089671
Christopher H. Dietrich

Dr. Christopher Dietrich of the University of Illinois/Illinois Natural History Survey has been awarded a grant to study aspects of the evolution of reproductive behaviors in insects. This research should help explain the extraordinary success of this group of animals and may suggest improved methods for managing economically important species. Modern phylogenetic methods have greatly improved understanding of evolutionary processes at the level of genes and individual traits, but the processes by which multiple coordinated traits, or adaptive syndromes, evolve remain poorly understood. This project examines the evolution of several morphological, behavioral, and physiological traits related to the unique egg-laying (oviposition) syndrome of proconiine leafhoppers (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadellidae). Unlike most leafhoppers, which insert their eggs into plant tissue without coating the egg scars, certain proconiine species coat their egg scars with specialized secretory particles called brochosomes. In most leafhopper species, brochosomes are used primarily to provide a water-repellant coating on external surfaces of the body. In proconiines, brochosomes have assumed a new function in the protection of egg masses. Pregnant female proconiines store brochosomes in globs on their forewings and, after oviposition, scrape them off the wing and onto the egg scar using the hind legs. The brochosomes of ovipositing females differ from those of males and non-ovipositing females and corresponding modifications are found in the legs and forewings. By estimating the phylogenetic relationships among proconiine species using morphological and DNA sequence data, this project will address the question of whether the various traits related to the unique oviposition syndrome were acquired all at once or in a stepwise fashion. The project will provide training for a Ph.D. student and post-doctoral fellow in field sampling, data collection, morphological and molecular genetic methods. The project will also improve collaborative ties between U.S. and Brazilian researchers and will yield improved tools for identifying leafhopper species.

The leafhopper genus Erythroneura comprises 600 species worldwide, 487 of which occur in North America. These insects are a major component of forest biodiversity and are also important pests of horticultural crops, particularly grapevine. The tremendous diversity of this genus has previously hindered attempts to develop a comprehensive classification and identification guide for Erythroneura species. The availability of several new labor-saving tools has now rendered such a project feasible in terms of the time required and cost. The specific goals of this 3-year project are: (1) compile a digital image archive containing illustrations of all Erythroneura species and link it to an already completed database of scientific names; (2) enter georeferenced collection records for ca. 40,000 museum specimens of the genus, one record for each unique collecting event/species combination, into the database; (3) compile a matrix of anatomical features for Erythroneura species and analyze these data to estimate the evolutionary relationships among species; (4) create interactive tools for identifying species over the Web; (5) publish a color atlas and identification guide for species.
By incorporating various labor-saving tools, this project will serve as a model for comprehensive and efficient classification of hyperdiverse groups of organisms. The project will also facilitate study of the evolution of host-plant associations in plant-feeding insects and the extent to which specialization on particular plants has facilitated evolutionary diversification in this group. Broader impacts of the project include: (1) upgrading the infrastructure of the Illinois Natural History Survey to improve the efficiency of revisionary studies and the accessibility of the products of such studies to the scientific community and general public; (2) training of a post-doctoral fellow from a developing country, studying a diverse but poorly known insect group, in the use of advanced tools and methods in systematic monography; (3) improvements in methods for identifying and tracking the spread of agricultural pests and invasive species.

Loss of ancestral traits and trait complexes is a pervasive aspect
of the evolutionary process, but its causes, mechanisms, consequences, and
the possibility of restoration of the lost traits are still poorly
understood. The current project aims to explore the patterns of repeated
decay and loss of a stereotyped maternal behavior in the North American
leafhopper genus Cuerna as a model of the regressive evolution of a complex
biological function at the species level. In some of the 31 known species
of the genus, females display an ancestral egg-powdering behavior, coating
the egg nests with a layer of specialized Malpighian tubule products and
displaying a suite of corresponding physiological and structural
modifications, while in other species no such behavior is observed.
Preliminary phylogenetic analyses suggested that egg-powdering has been
lost or lost-and-restored within the genus multiple times. In the three
years of the project the investigators will collect detailed comparative
data on the egg-laying behavior and associated specializations of the
external morphology and the Malpighian tubules for every species of Cuerna.
Then, they will analyze these in the context of a detailed DNA-based
phylogeny of the genus to address the following questions: Did the changes
of particular traits proceed as quantum leaps or gradually? Do
morphological, behavioral, and physiological traits display similar
evolutionary plasticity? Did they change in a certain order? Did any
restorations of lost egg-powdering occur in the evolution of Cuerna? What
were the most likely causes of the losses? The study will also result in a
taxonomic revision of the genus, which currently contains a number of
poorly defined species.

The study will contribute to management of economically important
species of Cuerna by providing identification aids, as well as behavioral
and physiological data for improved integrated pest management. An
interactive key to species of Cuerna, complete with bionomical and
distribution data, will be served on-line. The project will also provide
training for a graduate student in the systematics, molecular
phylogenetics, and evolutionary biology of insects.

This project will use newly developed electronic tools to synthesize information on the morphology, geographic distribution, and taxonomic nomenclature for the approximately 1,000 species of the leafhopper tribe Empoascini. This leafhopper tribe is an ecologically and economically important group of plant sap-sucking insects distributed worldwide. Identification of species is currently difficult because relevant information is either scattered throughout the literature or unpublished, existing only on museum specimen labels. Specific goals of this project include (1) entering morphological and distributional data for each species into an internet-accessible relational database; (2) using the database to create on-line interactive identification keys, species descriptions, distribution maps, and tables of host-plant associations; (3) publishing traditional taxonomic monographs for genera and species of Empoascini; and, (4) upgrading taxonomic software developed as part of a previous REVSYS project to make it more versatile and user-friendly.

By providing improved electronic tools for taxonomic revsionary studies, this project will help remove the taxonomic impediment to biological research by enabling taxonomists to become more efficient at producing revisions and identification keys. By synthesizing ecological data and providing the first comprehensive taxonomic treatment of this large group of plant-feeding insects, the project will facilitate detection, identification, and management of species of actual or potential economic importance.

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

This project will produce the first user-friendly identification keys and global classification for the leafhopper subfamily Deltocephalinae, a diverse, economically and ecologically important group of plant-feeding insects, comprising 980 genera and 6329 species. The main goals are to: 1) compile and analyze morphological data for currently recognized genera; 2) assign genera to tribes, with particular emphasis on determining the correct placements of the 277 genera currently included in the large, poorly defined tribe Athysanini; 3) use the data to develop innovative, Internet-accessible interactive keys to tribes and genera; and 4) publish a revised classification, including descriptions, taxonomic lists, illustrations of morphological features useful for identification of all tribes and subtribes, and illustrated keys to tribes and to genera of Athysanini.

The current lack of user-friendly identification tools for deltocephaline leafhoppers hinders attempts to track and manage invasive species and agricultural pests, as well as efforts to assess the conservation status of the native grassland biota, which is vulnerable to agricultural intensification and global climate change. Thus, by providing a more stable classification and facilitating identification of deltocephaline leafhoppers, this project will positively impact human welfare and conservation of biodiversity, in addition to facilitating future research on Deltocephalinae.

This project will create InvertNet, an on-line virtual museum comprising >50 million insect and related arthropod specimens housed at 22 Midwestern institutions, focusing on the research theme of effects of land use changes on the biota of the Great Lakes and upper Mississippi River drainage basins. These collections document 160 years of environmental change and are an invaluable and irreplaceable resource but, at present, are largely inaccessible to scientists and the general public. Most previous efforts to capture and disseminate invertebrate collection data have focused on label data alone. InvertNet will use advanced digitization and networking technologies to capture and display 2D and 3D images of specimens and labels, and incorporate them into a searchable database. These new techniques should reduce the cost of digitizing insect specimens substantially.

By allowing users to find and view detailed images of specimens of particular species and their associated data labels, InvertNet will provide universal access to collections previously restricted to researchers. It will include links to the popular BugGuide.net insect identification website and to other biodiversity data portals used by researchers, educators, and the general public. This will facilitate and support many aspects of biological research and education, including species discovery and identification, pest management, ecology and biogeography. InvertNet will serve as a model, applicable to other kinds of biological collections, for the use of efficient, computer-assisted procedures to increase the speed and accuracy of collection data capture. This award is made as part of the National Resource for Digitization of Biological Collections through the Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections program and all data resulting from this award will be available through the national resource.

More than half of all known species are insects. The hemipteroid insects, which include true bugs, leafhoppers, aphids, thrips, and parasitic lice, comprise over 120,000 described species, about 12% of insect diversity. This group of insects contains many species of crop pests as well as human disease vectors. The goals of this project are to understand the family tree of relationships for the hemipteroids by sampling 170 target species covering the diversity of this group. Data for analysis will include over 1000 genes sequenced from complete genomes and a large morphological data set of over 300 characters.

This project is scientifically important because there is little consensus regarding the family level taxonomic relationships of this group of insects. The large amount of data collected in the course of this project should conclusively solve this problem. The findings will also have considerable broader significance. For example, data from the genomes of these insects may reveal new strategies for control of the crop pest insects included in the study. This project will also include training for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as post-doctoral researchers. Public outreach activities will include a Tree of Life display for a Mobile Science Center and Bug ID cards.

Despite the enormous ecological and economic importance of insects, the majority of species are known only from a few museum specimens with little data on their behavior or ecological associations. Most insects also belong to large lineages that are difficult to study comprehensively because of their extreme diversity, the shortage of taxonomic expertise, and the difficulty of obtaining specimens suitable for detailed genetic study. This project will integrate multiple data layers for one such insect lineage, the plant-sap-sucking leafhopper subfamily Deltocephalinae, comprising >6,600 species and including many agricultural pests, invasive species, and species of conservation concern. Products will include a comprehensive and open-access set of digital tools for identifying leafhopper species and higher groups, a phylogeny showing the relationships among these groups, and an online database that organizes information on each species including geographic and seasonal distribution, anatomical traits, genomic information and associations with plants and microbes. These data will help facilitate identification and tracking of invasive species and contribute to improved knowledge of leafhopper biodiversity worldwide. They also will help identify genetic traits associated with the ability of leafhopper species to transmit plant disease pathogens, thereby enhancing prediction and management of threats to agriculture and food security.

This project will construct an open-access phylogeny for the leafhopper subfamily Deltocephalinae. It also will create an online digital research platform that combines nomenclatural, morphological, ecological and distributional data from the previous literature and digitized collections to create a comprehensive set of identification tools and illustrated taxon pages for the leafhoppers. It also will establish a genome bank and use efficient next-generation DNA sequencing technology to capture genetic data informative of phylogenetic relationships, microbial associations (including endosymbionts and plant pathogens), and ecological traits (diet breadth and host-plant associations). It will provide intensive training for both students and established taxonomists to facilitate a global collaborative effort to fully document the biodiversity of leafhoppers and their plant and microbial associates. Finally, the project will provide a robust cyberinfrastructure and model workflows to support research on other diverse groups of organisms.