This biological survey investigates insects, plants, and other organisms from mountain forests on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic, Haiti), including some of the most threatened natural habitats on earth. A high percentage of animal and plant species in these habitats are endemic, found nowhere else. Destruction of montane habitats is occurring at an alarming rate and many species are threatened with extinction, including many which provide information essential for understanding biological aspects of related species elsewhere in the New World, especially circum-Caribbean regions such as the southeastern United States, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. Plants of Hispaniola are the least known of any island in the Antilles. An estimated 80% of invertebrate species in mountainous regions is uncollected and unknown to the scientific community. Project goals are (1) to further an understanding of biological diversity in threatened Caribbean habitats, (2) to improve infrastructure in Hispaniola for research on biodiversity, (3) to rapidly provide recommendations for conservation of endangered Hispaniolan habitats, and (4) to foster creative research on diverse and ecologically significant groups of Caribbean animals and plants.
The principal project accomplishment will be a comprehensive, multi-seasonal biotic inventory of great urgency starting Sept. 2002, ending Aug. 2005. Regions targeted for intensive sampling encompass all six fault-delimited mountain systems in Hispaniola (two in Haiti, four in DR). Sampling emphasizes insects and plants from terrestrial and freshwater systems, especially megadiverse lineages (Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, angiosperms). More than 5,320 plants, 150,000 invertebrate specimens, and DNA samples of both will circulate to 170 cooperating specialists worldwide for identification, research, and publication on diverse Caribbean lineages. The project will (1) collect, prepare, and circulate specimens for research, (2) discover and publish on previously unknown organisms, (3) document spatial and temporal occurrence of species and their associates, (4) communicate biological information over the World Wide Web, and (5) apply survey findings to urgent problems in resource management. The findings from this project have significance for scientific research, including systematics, evolution, ecology, and conservation. This is a multi-institutional and international effort based at Carnegie Museum of Natural History (Pittsburgh) with collaborating co-PI's from Smithsonian Institution and Harvard University, staff from key institutions in DR and Haiti (Jardin Botaico Nacional, Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, State University of Haiti), government agencies (Direccion General de Vida Silvestre y Biodiversidad (DR), Ministere de L'Environnement (Haiti)), and private foundations (Fundacion Moscoso Puello, Grupo Jaragua). The project will provide the most complete biotic documentation of Hispaniolan habitats available anywhere, will be essential to preservation and management of these endangered montane habitats, and will be a model for future multinational, multi-institutional biotic inventories in the Caribbean and beyond.
