PYI: Development of an Integrated Developmental and Evolutionary Model for a Marine Organism

在南加州大学（University of Southern California）工作的埃姆莱特博士将探讨在进化过程中，发展和自然选择是如何相互作用的问题。他计划为海洋生物创建第一个综合发育和进化模型，这可以为为什么有些生物多样化而另一些没有提供见解，以及环境变化如何影响生物体的短期和长期变化。他利用一种海胆作为模式生物，并利用他开发的技术来推断化石海胆的幼虫发育模式，Emlet博士将确定一种特定类型的幼虫喂养进化的地点和时间是否与预期为这种类型的发育选择的环境条件相一致。他还将分析幼虫幼虫形态和模式的变化对游泳性能的功能影响。这项实验工作将首次定量地确定在发展模式的进化变化过程中被修改的发育过程的功能要求。结合历史和功能方法可以显示自然选择如何以及何时通过环境变化或功能形态要求来控制发育模式。历史分析也可以表明发展模式是否影响进化的成功，以多样化率来衡量。

Dr. Emlet, working at the University of Southern California, will address the question of how development and natural selection interact during evolution. He plans to create the first integrated developmental and evolutionary model for a marine organism, which could provide insights into why some organisms have diversified while others have not, as well as how environmental changes effect short and long term changes in organisms. Using a sea urchin species as a model organism and techniques he developed to infer mode of larval development in fossil urchins, Dr. Emlet will determine if the places and times that a particular type of larval feeding evolved correspond with environmental conditions that are expected to select for this type of development. He will also analyze the functional consequences of changes in shape and patterns of larval ciliation on swimming performance. This experimental work will be the first to determine quantitatively the functional requirements for developmental processes which are modified during evolutionary changes in mode of development. Combining historical and functional approaches may show how and when natural selection acts through environmental change or functional morphological requirements to control developmental patterns. Historical analyses may also show whether developmental patterns influence evolutionary success, measured as diversification rate.