Evolution in African Rift Lake Cichlidae

东非大裂谷湖泊因其含有大量独特的慈鲷而闻名。马拉维湖有超过250种特有的慈鲷，是世界上鱼类种类最多的湖泊。为了更好地理解产生这些物种的进化机制，将对这些鱼的部分线粒体DNA进行测序。这些序列将用于重建马拉维湖、坦噶尼喀湖和维多利亚湖的鲷鱼之间的进化关系。这些研究将对这些鱼类的生态学和进化研究产生重要影响。一个清晰的类群系统发育假说将有助于推断祖先物种的形态、生态和行为特征，这对我们理解这些物种群是如何产生的至关重要。

The East African Rift Valley Lakes are remarkable for the large number of unique cichlid fish species which they contain. Lake Malawi, with over 250 species of endemic cichlids, has more species of fish than any other lake in the world. To better understand the evolutionary mechanisms which produced these many species, portions of the mitochondrial DNA of these fish will be sequenced. The sequences will then be used to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships among the cichlid fish in Lakes Malawi, Tanganyika and Victoria. These studies will have an important impact on ecological and evolutionary studies of these fish. A clear phylogenetic hypothesis for the taxa will allow inference of the morphological, ecological and behavioral characteristics of ancestral species, which is important to our understanding of how these species flocks arose.