Collaborative Research: The combined influence of biotic interactions and geologic (in)stability on the diversification of mountain squamates

Mountains are among the most important regions on Earth for both people and nature. They supply freshwater to cities and towns far beyond the mountains themselves, influence regional climate, and support nearly half of the world’s biodiversity hotspots while also sustaining about 12% of the global population. Mountain biodiversity also supports essential services such as food resources, medicinal discoveries, and livelihoods. Yet scientists still do not understand why some mountain regions host exceptional biological diversity, whereas others with similar environments do not. Without this knowledge, it is difficult to identify which areas are most valuable to protect, prioritize conservation investments, or anticipate how mountain ecosystems may change over time. This project will clarify how the physical formation of mountains over geologic timescales interacts with the behavior and adaptation of species to produce and maintain biodiversity. Results will provide key knowledge for long-term environmental planning and management of natural lands. This collaborative research will train undergraduate and graduate students, as well as a postdoctoral fellow, fostering a new generation of scientists fluent in evolutionary biology, bioinformatics, and geosciences. It will also create educational resources for K-12 students, develop hands-on learning experiences for families and local communities, and promote interdisciplinary collaboration through workshops and conference symposia that connect Earth and Life Sciences. This interdisciplinary project will investigate how geological dynamics and biological interactions jointly shape biodiversity by integrating newly assembled trait datasets with phylogenetic comparative methods and geospatial analyses. The study focuses on mountain squamates (lizards and snakes), a diverse group of over 12,000 species whose physiology and ecology are closely tied to environmental conditions. First, the project will quantify global patterns of taxonomic, morphological, physiological, and ecological diversity across mountain regions to determine how species differ in form, function, and niche occupation. It will then test how tectonic history and climatic variability influence lineage diversification within and among mountain systems. Finally, the project will evaluate how landscape dynamics interact with interspecific competition to shape phenotypic evolution. Together, these analyses will provide a more complete and mechanistic understanding of the processes that promote, constrain, or erode biodiversity in mountains and establish a framework broadly applicable to other organisms and dynamic landscapes worldwide. 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. NSF Award ID: 2538035 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Laura R Vieira de Alencar | Institution: Yale University, NEW HAVEN, CT | Award Amount: $776,970 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2538035 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2538035.html