Heterochrony in Hydractiniid Hydroids

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For over a century, comparative biologists have documented that evolutionary change often occurs through alterations in the timing of developmental events, i.e., heterochrony, but only in the past decade, have molecular tools become available to determine the mechanisms of development. As these tools are applied to model systems, a synthetic understanding of the mechanistic underpinnings of a major mode of evolutionary change is a realistic expectation. This work seeks to establish such a synthesis. As a first step, it will establish which of several alternative cellular processes have undergone evolutionary change in a known phylogeny of hydroids (Phylum Hydrozoa) and will establish which of those traits display variation capable of being inherited.