The Mesoamerican corridor has a series of mountain ranges that have rarely been explored by biologists. Mountain ecosystems are threatened by global warming, which can elevate climate zones and cause extinction by literally driving species off the top of the mountain. The lack of exploration of Mesoamerican mountains has left a glaring hole in our understanding of the planet's biodiversity and what we might lose in response to global warming. Insects make up the bulk of biodiversity and form the fine-scale fabric of ecosystems, yet among the larger forms of life they are the least known. This project will sample insect diversity on mountains from Nicaragua to southern Mexico. Collaborative teams of students from U.S. and host country institutions will carry out a sampling program in the field, followed by laboratory work to describe the new species and analyze the quantitative data on species richness and distribution.
The results will (1) add to our store of species knowledge, which directly benefits humans through agricultural and natural products applications, (2) reveal species that might be in danger of loss through climate change, (3) provide quantitative base-line data on diversity, allowing future assessment of response to climate change, and (4) allow evaluation of fundamental ecological theories of species abundance and distribution. The reliance on multinational teams of undergraduate and graduate students will stimulate training in the sciences and foster greater scientific exchange among U.S. and Latin American scientific communities.
Species discovery is one of the most important activities carried out by scientists. We need a detailed map of the world's biodiversity as a resource for agriculture, human health and emerging diseases, natural products exploration, biomimicry, and natural resource management. We also need to understand which parts of biodiversity are most vulnerable to a rapidly changing climate. The Leaf Litter Arthropods of MesoAmerica project focused on the unexplored pool of tiny arthropods that live in the decomposing leaves and wood on the forest floor. The litter layer is a critical component of forest ecosystems, the zone where biomass is converted, soil is formed, and nutrients are recycled or lost. The project surveyed arthropod diversity in the Central American corridor, from southern Mexico to Nicaragua. This is a region where arthropod diversity is very high, relatively unexplored, and in great danger of loss from habitat conversion and climate change. Over the life of the project we were able to repeat a standard sampling procedure at 34 forested sites distributed throughout Central America. These samples produced nearly 1500 species of ants and weevils alone. 270 new species of ants were discovered; 70 of these have been published with new scientific names, the others continue to be included in new studies. By using standard quantitative sampling, the results also provide a major benchmark study that will allow future assessment of biodiversity change. All the project results are available on-line, with detailed images of the species and distribution maps of where they occur. These resources are available to scientists and to the many reserve managers in the Latin American forests where we worked. Important broader goals of scientific research are training new generations of scientists, reaching the public about the nature and importance of the research, and developing international collaborations among scientists. LLAMA operated by forming international teams of undergraduates who participated in the project, and by forming tight collaborations with Latin American scholars and institutions. Each year a team of four students from the U.S. and Canada joined four students from the host country in which we were working, directed by two graduate students, one U.S. and one Latin American. The teams were evenly divided among men and women and included students of diverse ethnic backgrounds. Many of these students were profoundly influenced by their LLAMA experience and have gone on to graduate programs or related activities in STEM fields. Public outreach often occurred in the Latin American countryside where we worked, arguably the most important public to reach. We arranged meetings with local communities and invited people to visit our camps to learn about the project and about the importance of their local forests. Overall, Project LLAMA has made major contributions to the biodiversity map, promoted collaborations among U.S. and Latin American scientists, and inspired life science careers for a diverse set of young students.
