Award Abstract # 1343517
Resolving issues of species, phylogeny, and radiation in a diverse group of Old World tropical mammals

NSF Org: DEB
Division Of Environmental Biology
Recipient: LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY
Initial Amendment Date: June 12, 2013
Latest Amendment Date: February 20, 2014
Award Number: 1343517
Award Instrument: Continuing Grant
Program Manager: Simon Malcomber
smalcomb@nsf.gov
 (703)292-8227
DEB
 Division Of Environmental Biology
BIO
 Directorate for Biological Sciences
Start Date: May 1, 2013
End Date: January 31, 2017 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $464,371.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $464,371.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2012 = $303,758.00
FY 2014 = $160,613.00
History of Investigator:
  • Jacob Esselstyn (Principal Investigator)
    esselstyn@lsu.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: Louisiana State University
202 HIMES HALL
BATON ROUGE
LA  US  70803-0001
(225)578-2760
Sponsor Congressional District: 06
Primary Place of Performance: Louisiana State University & Agricultural and Mechanical College
LA  US  70803-2701
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
06
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): ECQEYCHRNKJ4
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): PHYLOGENETIC SYSTEMATICS
Primary Program Source: 01001213DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01001415DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 9169, EGCH
Program Element Code(s): 117100
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.074

ABSTRACT

This project will improve our understanding of the diversity and evolutionary relationships in a poorly known group of mammals, Old World shrews of the subfamily Crocidurinae. These shrews are diverse, with approximately 240 species currently recognized, and they are very common members of small mammal communities, especially in central Africa and Southeast Asia. However, knowledge of Old World shrew diversity is very limited, in part due to their conservative morphology. This project therefore emphasizes the use of DNA sequences from independently evolving regions of the genome to delimit species and infer relationships among species. Estimated relationships will then be used to test hypotheses regarding the origins of this diversity, and its connection with lowland tropical or montane areas of the African continent.

This project provides insights on the diversity of shrews across the Old World and the evolutionary and ecological processes that have generated this diversity. More generally, our understanding of these processes has important implications for society's ability to preserve biodiversity and our understanding of the evolutionary forces that have shaped species. This grant provides training for a post-doctoral researcher and undergraduate students, facilitates collaboration among molecular and field biologists, and promotes public understanding of biodiversity science through museum exhibits and project websites.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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(Showing: 1 - 10 of 17)
Achmadi, AS, JA Esselstyn, KC Rowe, I Maryanto, MT Abdullah "Phylogeny, diversity, and biogeography of Southeast Asian endemic spiny mice (Maxomys)" Journal of Mammalogy , v.94 , 2013 , p.1412
Adams, Amy L and Achmadi, Anang S and Mursyid, Ahmad "Wildlife disease surveillance from village to peak: Trypanosome infections of mammals on Sulawesi revealed higher prevalence in intact montane forests" Therya , v.16 , 2025 https://doi.org/10.12933/therya-25-6154 Citation Details
Demos, T.C., A.S. Achmadi, H. Handika, K.C. Rowe, J.A. Esselstyn "A new species of shrew (Soricomorpha: Crocidura) from Java, Indonesia: possible character displacement despite intraspecific gene flow" Journal of Mammalogy , v.98 , 2017 , p.183 10.1093/jmammal/gyw183
Demos, T.C., A.S. Achmadi, T.C. Giarla, H. Handika, J.A. Esselstyn "Local endemism and within-island diversification of shrews illustrate the importance of speciation in building Sundaland mammal diversity" Molecular Ecology , v.25 , 2016 , p.5158 10.1111/mec.13820
Esselstyn, JA, AS Achmadi, H Handika, KC Rowe "A hog-nosed shrew rat (Rodentia: Muridae) from Sulawesi Island, Indonesia" Journal of Mammalogy , v.96 , 2015 , p.895 10.1093/jmammal/gyv093
Esselstyn, JA, AS Achmadi, Maharadatunkamsi "A new species of shrew (Soricomorpha: Crocidura) from West Java, Indonesia" Journal of Mammalogy , v.95 , 2014 , p.216 10.1644/13-MAMM-A-215
Esselstyn, Jacob A. and Achmadi, Anang S. and Handika, Heru and Swanson, Mark T. and Giarla, Thomas C. and Rowe, Kevin C. "Fourteen new, endemic species of shrew (genus Crocidura) from Sulawesi reveal a spectacular island radiation" Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History , v.454 , 2021 Citation Details
Esselstyn, Jacob A and Achmadi, Anang S and Handika, Heru C and Giarla, Thomas C and Rowe, Kevin and Powell, Roger "A new climbing shrew from Sulawesi highlights the tangled taxonomy of an endemic radiation" Journal of Mammalogy , v.100 , 2019 10.1093/jmammal/gyz077 Citation Details
Esselstyn, JA, Maharadatunkamsi, AS Achmadi, CD Siler, BJ Evans "Carving out turf in a biodiversity hotspot: Multiple previously unrecognized shrew species co-occur on Java Island, Indonesia" Molecular Ecology , v.22 , 2013 , p.4972 10.1111/mec12450
Giarla, TC, JA Esselstyn "The challenges of resolving a rapid, recent radiation: empirical and simulated phylogenomics of Philippine shrews" Systematic Biology , v.64 , 2015 , p.727 10.1093/sysbio/syv029
Handika, Heru and Achmadi, Anang S. and Esselstyn, Jacob A. and Rowe, Kevin C. "Molecular and morphological systematics of the Bunomys division (Rodentia: Muridae), an endemic radiation on Sulawesi" Zoologica Scripta , v.50 , 2020 https://doi.org/10.1111/zsc.12460 Citation Details
(Showing: 1 - 10 of 17)

PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT

Disclaimer

This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.

The primary goals of this project were to improve our understanding of the diversity and evolutionary relationships in a poorly known group of mammals, Old World shrews of the subfamily Crocidurinae. These shrews are diverse, with approximately 240 species currently recognized, and they are very common members of small mammal communities, especially in central Africa and Southeast Asia. However, knowledge of Old World shrew diversity is very limited, in part due to their conservative morphology.

Intellectual Merit: Our data generation efforts included the 1) collection of new specimens of shrews from Indonesia, Malaysia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Uganda; and the 2) generation of new sequence data from thousands of specimens, including a large dataset of several thousand genes from 350 individuals representing about 200 species. These data have been used to describe new species of shrews and to estimate the evolutionary relationships among species. In total, this grant has supported wholly or in part, 14 peer-reviewed publications.

Broader Impacts: This grant supported the training of three post-doctoral fellows, three graduate students, and eight undergraduate students. Trainees participated in all aspects of the research, from basic data collection to presentation of results at conferences and in publications. The specimens, and associated data, collected as part of this research have been incorporated into publicly accessible natural history collections and data repositories (e.g. VertNet, GenBank) and are available now and in perpetuity for use in research and education. This project involved extensive collaboration that spanned many international borders, with participants originating from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. Although this project is considered “basic science” we also collaborated with researchers whose interests are centered on zoonotic diseases, and hence, more “applied” in nature.  This collaboration resulted in the discovery of novel hanta viruses endemic to African shrews. Various findings from this research have been featured in a natural history museum exhibit, at public outreach events hosted by museums, and in the popular press.


Last Modified: 04/26/2017
Modified by: Jacob A Esselstyn

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