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（Sulawesi）长期以来因其高度独特和特有的脊椎动物动物群而被认可。但是，科学家无法确定这些动物中的许多动物如何或何时到达岛上，或者是什么推动了它们的显着多元化。这种理解的不足部分归因于动物本身之间关系的不确定性以及重建岛上高度复杂的地质历史的困难。对于许多分类单元，由于缺乏足够的地理抽样，岛内多样化模式尚不清楚。这项研究将通过使用Cuscus Marsipials作为模型系统来评估sulawesi陆地哺乳动物的定植和岛内多样化的时间和地理模式。重建整个该地区cuscus之间的进化关系将有助于阐明苏拉威西的历史生物地理学。这项研究将大大扩大早期职业女性科学家的专业和技术发展，他们还将培训并共同审议本科生。 该项目将检验以下假设：在更新世中，苏拉威西和栖息地破碎过程中的微孔板构造使ailuropinae（Phalangeridae，hosupialia）驱动多样化。通过使用现有的博物馆收藏品和提取古代DNA的新方法，可以实现广泛的岛内和岛内抽样。研究人员将结合传统的形态技术，以区分和描述类群以及系统基因组方法以重建其进化关系。 然后，生物地理建模将用于评估不同地理位置形成方案的可能性。然后，将这些结果作为框架，然后研究人员将对亚科进行分类修订。