GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH
The current research includes descriptions of taxa, generally
at the species level (alpha taxonomy), in combination with phylogenetic and
biogeographic analyses. It focuses primarily on taxa in the amphipod families
Crangonyctidae, Bogidiellidae and Hadziidae that inhabit subterranean groundwater
habitats. However, we are also interested in the surface species that appear
to be related to the hypogean forms as well as the phylogenetic and/or biogeographic
relationships of certain genera in other families represented in subterranean
groundwaters. Many subterranean amphipods, and even surface relatives of the
groundwater forms, are in need of taxonomic revisions and evolutionary studies.
Approximately 50 percent of all hadziids, 80 percent of all crangonyctids, and
100 percent of bogidiellids live in subterranean waters. Genera in all three
family groups contain undescribed species, many of which appear to be endemic
to small areas and potentially vulnerable to groundwater pollution and other
forms of environmental degradation.
Supplementing the taxonomic and biogeographic research, we are
developing a species/locality database for the subterranean crangonyctid genera
Stygobromus and Bactrurus that presently includes 162 species
(some in manuscript) and approximately 3,000 locality records. Computerized
distribution maps utilizing GIS are being developed for all species in these
genera, and this information will be made accessible to taxonomists, ecologists,
conservationists, etc. upon request.
Consistent with the stated objectives of the NSF PEET program,
four graduate students in the ecological sciences doctorate program at Old Dominion
University participated in my research program. They received extensive training
in systematics and evolutionary biology and earned their Ph.Ds; two of them
are continuing to collaborate on current projects.