Dissertation Research: Genetic Variation of the Genus Lemur

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Among the living primates the genus Lemur is one of the most complicated from the taxonomic point of view. There are six recognized species and one, Lemur fulvus, occurs in seven allopatric subspecies. Their relationships to one another and the mode of their genetic differentiation is not known. The PI will examine levels of genetic differentiation associated with various stages in the process of speciation and, using data from the genus Lemur, will examine the model of allopatric speciation. Specifically, the PI will test the hypothesis that there is progressively greater genetic differentiation as comparisons are made among geographic populations, then subspecies, and finally species. These data will also be used to address the systematics of lemurs, and specifically whether Lemur fulvus is ancestral to other species in the genus, as has been proposed.