DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Investigating the evolution of phalangerid marsupials in Sulawesi by incorporating morphology, molecular phylogenomics and biogeographical modeling

论文研究：通过结合形态学、分子系统发育学和生物地理学模型研究苏拉威西岛有袋动物的进化

• 批准号: 1600899
• 负责人: Larry Rockwood
• 金额: $ 1.64万
• 依托单位: George Mason University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-06-01 至 2019-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1600899&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Investigating; evolution; phalangerid

The island of Sulawesi has long been recognized for its highly distinctive and endemic vertebrate fauna; however, scientists have not been able to determine how or when many of these animals arrived on the island or what drove their remarkable diversification. This deficit of understanding has been due in part to uncertainty surrounding relationships among the animals themselves and the difficulty of reconstructing the island's highly complex geological history. For many taxa, intra-island diversification patterns remain unclear due to a lack of sufficient geographic sampling. This study will evaluate the temporal and geographic patterns of colonization and intra-island diversification of terrestrial mammals on Sulawesi by using cuscus marsupials as a model system. Reconstructing the evolutionary relationships among cuscuses across this region will help elucidate the historical biogeography of Sulawesi. This research will significantly broaden the professional and technical development of an early career female scientist, who will also train and co-advise an undergraduate student. This project will test the hypothesis that microplate tectonics during the formation of Sulawesi and habitat fragmentation in the Pleistocene drove diversification in the Ailuropinae (Phalangeridae, Marsupialia). Extensive inter- and intra-island sampling with be achieved by using existing museum collections and novel methods of extracting ancient DNA. The researchers will incorporate traditional morphological techniques to distinguish and describe taxa along with phylogenomic methods to reconstruct their evolutionary relationships. Biogeographical modeling will then be used to assess the likelihood of different geographical speciation scenarios. Using these results as a framework, the researchers will then produce a taxonomic revision of the subfamily.

苏拉威西岛长期以来因其高度独特的特有脊椎动物群而闻名。然而，科学家们还无法确定这些动物是如何或何时到达岛上的，也无法确定是什么推动了它们显着的多样化。这种理解的缺陷部分是由于动物本身之间关系的不确定性以及重建该岛高度复杂的地质历史的困难。对于许多类群来说，由于缺乏足够的地理采样，岛内多样化模式仍不清楚。本研究将通过使用袋貂有袋动物作为模型系统来评估苏拉威西岛陆生哺乳动物的殖民和岛内多样化的时间和地理模式。重建该地区斑袋貂之间的进化关系将有助于阐明苏拉威西岛的历史生物地理学。这项研究将显着拓宽早期职业女科学家的专业和技术发展，她还将培训一名本科生并为其提供共同指导。 该项目将检验以下假设：苏拉威西岛形成期间的微板块构造和更新世的栖息地破碎化推动了大熊猫亚科（袋鼠科、有袋动物）的多样化。通过利用现有的博物馆藏品和提取古代 DNA 的新方法，可以实现广泛的岛间和岛内采样。研究人员将结合传统的形态学技术来区分和描述类群，并结合系统发育学方法来重建它们的进化关系。 然后，生物地理模型将用于评估不同地理物种形成情景的可能性。以这些结果为框架，研究人员将对亚科进行分类学修订。