The project relied on three pillars: collaborative work, professional development and dissemination of the research results.
1. Collaborative work: The project strengthened a research network among the host institution and EU (Lund University, the Czech Academy of Sciences) and non-EU groups (Smithsonian Institution, Panama; San Marcos University, Peru). Future collaborations emerged thanks to the participation of the host with inter-institutional projects such as the Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate (BECC, Lund University and University of Gothenburg, Sweden).
2. Professional development: The project contributed to knowledge transfer, including computational and statistical methods to study evolution and biodiversity, high-throughput DNA sequencing methods, presentation and communication skills, and research management. These were ensured by participating in workshops organized by the University of Gothenburg (for example, grant writing and leadership), by the host lab (for example, scientific writing, journal club on ecology and evolution, software development) and by the host Alexandre Antonelli by regular mentorship talks. In addition, the organization and successful execution of a field expedition in Peru for two weeks and the organization of a workshop entitled “Biodiversity research in the light of insect genomics” in Gothenburg in 2017 were important hands-on activities for developing complementary research skills.
3. Dissemination of the research results: The project engaged in dissemination to the scientific community and in communication to the public.
a. Dissemination to the scientific community: Three research articles have been released as open access: i) A perspective on Neotropical biogeography (DOI: 10.7717/peerj.5644) ii) A review on biodiversity research using high-throughput sequencing and insects as model organisms (in press, and a pre-print available at DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.26661v3) iii) A pipeline to delimit butterfly species based on traditional taxonomic knowledge and model-based statistical selection (in press, DOI: 10.1111/syen.12352). Two more manuscripts derived from the action are currently under preparation and all should be submitted for peer-review by Autumn 2019: 1) A phylogenomic backbone for the subfamily Eudaminae (around 150 species), 2) A Neotropical historical biogeography study of Owl butterflies (tribe Brassolini).
b. Communication to the general public: The project was committed to outreach activities. For example, by participating at the European Researchers’ Night in Gothenburg, Sweden, as well as by giving two general talks at the Museum of Natural History in Lima, Peru. Importantly, the contribution of European funding through the European Commission was highlighted in every public event. Furthermore, internet-based communication was achieved by regularly updating a personal website with information about the project (
https://pavelmatos.wordpress.com(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)) and by updating Wikipedia in Spanish and English with Neotropical butterfly information on systematics, taxonomy, and evolutionary history (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Pavelm14(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)).
