| NSF Org: |
DEB Division Of Environmental Biology |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | March 5, 2024 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | March 5, 2024 |
| Award Number: | 2342481 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
April Wright
apwright@nsf.gov (703)292-2685 DEB Division Of Environmental Biology BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences |
| Start Date: | August 1, 2024 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2028 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $1,199,999.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $900,006.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1523 UNION RD RM 207 GAINESVILLE FL US 32611-1941 (352)392-3516 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1523 UNION RD RM 207 GAINESVILLE FL US 32611-1941 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Systematics & Biodiversity Sci |
| Primary Program Source: |
01002728DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.074 |
ABSTRACT
Pinhole borers are an understudied group of woodboring beetles that drill into trees and farm fungi for food. Some have become pests of trees, some are becoming invasive, and hundreds more are rare, unique, and entirely unknown to science. Given the ongoing disappearance of tropical forests, many pinhole borers may already be extinct. This project will summarize what is known about these beetles and their symbiotic fungi while generating new data about them using modern DNA sequencing and microscopy technologies. Because the lack of taxonomists working on pinhole borers and their symbiotic fungi is a biosecurity gap for the U.S ? both the beetles and the fungi can become pests ? this project will train graduate and undergraduate students as the next generation of entomologists and mycologists. Outreach goals include the broad dissemination of accurate information about wood borers through curating information on Wikipedia, and a specific campaign to encourage homeowners in the United States to retain dead wood on their properties as a refuge of biodiversity in urban landscapes.
This project will undertake a simultaneous revision of two symbiont groups that are charismatic, important, and sometimes pestiferous, but suffer from the typical taxonomic impediments. The main goals of the project are to identify, classify and describe the pinhole borer beetles and their symbiotic fungi, in addition to documenting the many interactions between these two groups and the trees in which they live. Attaining these aims are enabled by phylogenetically analyzing DNA sequence data from thousands of individuals and collecting new morphological data using photographs and microscopy to identify beetle-fungus interactions. The vast datasets generated by this project will feed into many products which will be made for both humans and online aggregators, including an e-monograph of pinhole borers, taxonomic publications, photographs, and an AI-based identification tool.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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