长期以来，人们对于自然群落如何维持生物多样性以及是否遵循普适的可以预测的群落建成机制颇有争论。自然生态群落中的鳞翅目昆虫如何从区域物种库到达局地群落中？是受中性的随机生态漂变还是生态位作用的影响？这些问题在当前的鳞翅目昆虫多样性研究中涉及甚少，尚无完全统一的理论或假说去解释，本项目将在这个方面进行重点探索。.鳞翅目是昆虫纲第二大目，是生态、进化生物学研究一个非常重要的模式类群, 包含122科，610属，分布广泛，除了南极洲以外，其他各洲均有分布。全世界已描述的超过20万种，我国已知80科，8000种或更多，包含了很多重要的农林害虫，因而对该类群的多样性进行研究具有重要的实践意义，尤其对阐述自然群落中物种共存及建成机制的研究具有其他类群不可替代的重要价值。在申请人已有的分子系统学、鳞翅目DNA分类、多样性等工作积累的基础上，主要采用分子系统发育，特征进化，及计算机模拟等方法技术，对自然生态群落中鳞翅目昆虫多样性及物种共存机制进行系统研究。以昆虫群落为对象的研究，不仅可以验证现有假说，而且可能发现新现象、新问题，进而提出适合昆虫和动物的新假说或为提出新假说奠定基础。

It has been long argued whether biodiversity pattern in natural communities could be predicted or not. It also remained largely unclear that how lepidopteran species could reach local communities from regional species pool. What is the driving forces of community assemblage for moth species, limited dispersal or niche-based forces? As the second largest order in Insecta, lepidopeteran species are one of the most important taxon groups in ecological and evolutionary studies, which include 610 gena, belonging to 122 families, with wide geographic distribution on the earth. More than 2 millions of species in this group have been described in the world. Some 8000 species or more, belonging to 80 families have been depicted in China, including many serious pest insects in agriculture and forestry. Careful investigation on species diversity of this group in natural communities using both traditional and molecular phylogenetic approaches will largely shed light on the assembly mechanisms of moth communities.