青藏高原及周边地区隙蛛亚科蜘蛛多样性与古地中海起源

The Tibetan Plateau and adjacent areas have complex geological history and high biodiversity. Currently, most biologists believe that the biodiversity of these areas originated from other regions and the formation of biodiversity is closely related to the Tibetan rapid uplift since the Miocene. This leads to the formation of the biodiversity center transfer hypothesis. However, more and more paleoaltimetry studies show that high-elevation orographic features existed in the Tibetan regions since the Eocene, which makes the hypothesis has been questioned. Our former studies of coelotine spiders show the early diversification of coelotines in the Tibetan regions was more ancient and their two recent origin centers were probably came from the Tethys area. The hypothesis of out of Tethys is put forward: the biodiversity of the Tibetan Plateau and adjacent areas should be partly derived from the more ancient Tethys fauna and not completely transferred from other regions. In this project, using coelotines as the research material, large-scale field investigations and different bioinformatics methods, we will reveal the historical and the internal cause of the high biodiversity of the Tibetan Plateau and adjacent areas from the macro and micro level. Our project will be the first time to confirm the out of Tethys hypothesis based on terrestrial animals and provide new insights into the origin and formation of biodiversity in China and Eurasia.

青藏高原及周边地区具有复杂的地质历史和极高的生物多样性。目前多数生物学家认为该区域的生物多样性由其他地区迁移而来，其形成与青藏高原自中新世以来的快速隆升密切相关。这促使了生物多样性中心转移假说的形成。然而，越来越多的古海拔研究表明青藏高原在始新世就已具有了高原地理特征，使该假说受到质疑。申请人团队前期对隙蛛亚科蜘蛛的研究发现其在青藏高原附近的物种多样性具有更古老的起源，而隙蛛现生物种目前南北两个起源中心很可能都来自于古地中海地区。进而提出了古地中海起源假说：青藏高原周边的生物多样性部分应源自于更古老的古地中海区系，并非完全由其他地区转移形成。本项申请拟以隙蛛为研究材料，通过大尺度的野外调查，结合生物信息学方法，从宏观和微观全面揭示青藏高原及周边高生物多样性形成的历史和内在原因。本项目有望首次基于陆生动物证实古地中海起源假说，为理解我国乃至欧亚大陆的生物多样性起源及形成提供一些新的见解。

青藏高原及周边地区素以拥有独特壮观的地貌特征和极为丰富的生物多样性而闻名。但这些生物多样性究竟如何而来、来自何方至今还尚存争议。本项目以在欧亚地区广泛分布的隙蛛亚科蜘蛛（蜘蛛目：漏斗蛛科）为研究材料，通过大尺度的野外调查，结合生物信息学方法，以期从更宏观的角度揭示青藏高原及其周边地区超高生物多样性形成的历史和内在原因。在本项目执行期间：1）我们在青藏高原及其周边地区先后开展了25次野外考察，收集了大量的蜘蛛新鲜样本，对该区域的隙蛛多样性进行了本底调查；2）通过高通量测序技术我们新获得了来自于210余种隙蛛的100个核基因外显子和4个线粒体基因序列片段共20000余条，以及5种隙蛛的转录组序列；3）建立了欧亚地区隙蛛物种的形态、分子及分布信息数据库；4）共发表隙蛛6新属、30新种，其他科蜘蛛5新种；5）以Pireneitega属隙蛛为研究模型，首次揭示了古地中海区域的一系列构造运动与欧亚大陆温带生物多样性热点形成之间的潜在联系。该研究成果于2020年6月发表在国际生态地理学专业期刊《Ecography》上（5 Year IF=7.185）。项目执行期间一共有10篇论文（其中SCI论文9篇）标注了本项目资助。本项目基于对欧亚陆生动物的多样性演化的研究证实了古地中海起源假说，提出了更具有普遍意义的欧亚地区生物多样性格局形成规律和机制，为理解我国乃至整个欧亚地区的生物多样性起源及形成提供了新见解。