Dissertation Research: Phylogenetic Relationships of the Major Lineages of Characiform Fishes

论文研究：特征鱼类主要谱系的系统发育关系

• 批准号: 9112367
• 金额: $ 1.01万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1991
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1991-11-15 至 1994-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9112367&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Phylogenetic; Relationships; Major

The fish order Characiformes comprises the most important group of freshwater fishes living in Africa and in Central and South America. They have been studied extensively because of their economic importance as food and as aquarium resources (for example, the "tetras"), and because of their remarkable adaptations to numerous kinds of aquatic environments, including the infamous predatory habits of the piranhas. However, the evolutionary relationships among the major families of characiform fishes are poorly understood, and morphological characters alone promise little help in resolving the matter. Faculty advisor Axel Meyer will assist graduate student Guillermo Orti in an extensive molecular systematic survey of mitochondrial DNA variation in representative samples of the major characiform groups. The amount and kind of mutational differences in mitochondrial DNA between fish species indicate relative degree of genealogical relationship, and thus provide data to infer the phylogeny of these lineages. Insight into the evolutionary history of this species-rich group of fishes will in turn help in understanding the geographical diversification between African and South American faunas following the geological breakup of Gondwana.

Characiformes 鱼类是生活在非洲、中美洲和南美洲的最重要的淡水鱼类群。由于它们作为食物和水族馆资源（例如“tetras”）的经济重要性，并且由于它们对多种水生环境的显着适应，包括食人鱼臭名昭著的捕食习惯，它们已被广泛研究。然而，人们对角形鱼类主要科之间的进化关系知之甚少，仅靠形态特征对解决这个问题几乎没有什么帮助。 指导老师 Axel Meyer 将协助研究生 Guillermo Orti 对主要特征类群代表性样本中的线粒体 DNA 变异进行广泛的分子系统调查。鱼类线粒体DNA突变的数量和种类差异表明了谱系关系的相对程度，从而为推断这些谱系的系统发育提供了数据。深入了解这一物种丰富的鱼类的进化历史将有助于了解冈瓦纳大陆地质分裂后非洲和南美动物群之间的地理多样性。