PD - BoCP Design: US-China-São Paulo: Functional biodiversity in streams on a changing planet in Tropical, Subtropical, and Temperate Climates

• Grant number: 24/04714-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: June 01, 2024
• End date: May 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems Ecology
• Agreement: NSF - Dimensions of Biodiversity and BIOTA
• Principal Investigator: Pitágoras da Conceição Bispo
• Grantee: Gleison Robson Desiderio Gomes
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL-ASSIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Assis. Assis , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 23/03818-6 - BoCP design: US-China-São Paulo: functional biodiversity in streams on a changing planet in tropical, subtropical, and temperate climates, AP.R

Abstract

Humans have altered the fundamental processes that maintain biodiversity by converting natural land cover for human uses, triggering Earth's sixth mass extinction. The effects of land cover change are arguably most acute in freshwater ecosystems, where aquatic insects have experienced precipitous global declines disproportional to other taxa. Yet despite decades of research, detection of universal responses of freshwater insects to land cover change remains elusive, with differing responses observed among regions and taxa. We contend this paradox exists for two reasons. First, most studies focus solely on taxonomic diversity and ignore functional and phylogenetic diversity-two critical dimensions of biodiversity that indicate organism function and evolutionary history in ecosystems. Second, they are limited in geographic extent, causing inference to be obscured by regional context. Using a diverse group of aquatic insects as a model system (caddisflies, Trichoptera), the project team will integrate taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic dimension of biodiversity to develop a clearer understanding of aquatic insect response to human land use change across the United States, Brazil, and China. This project will provide intercontinental inference by filling three critical research gaps. The first critical gap is a lack of species-level functional trait data, which precludes functional community analyses. To fill this gap, we will create an open-access, species-level database of caddisfly functional traits. Second, we will use the database to examine contemporary intercontinental convergence in caddisfly assemblage response to human land use change along the three dimensions of biodiversity across space. Third, we will couple contemporary sampling data with historical occurrence data to quantify taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic homogenization of caddisfly assemblages through time. Studying rivers requires an interdisciplinary understanding of the coupled natural and socioeconomic systems that operate across spatial scales to control biodiversity. To achieve these goals, we have assembled a diverse, interdisciplinary team of ecologists, taxonomists, spatial analysists, and geneticists.In this context, the Post-Doctoral researcher will work on this project by developing research activities in Brazil. He will mainly work in field activities, identifying and describing Trichoptera species and writing manuscripts.