Dissertation Research: Phylogeny and Diversification of Electric Organ Structure and Function in the Neotropical Hypopomid Fishes (Gymnotiformes: Teleostei)

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This research combines phylogenetic study of the Neotropical electric fish family Hypopomidae (Gymnotiformes: Teleostei) with comparative study of electric organ discharge (EOD) and electric organ morphology. EOD, electric organ, distributional and ecological data, collected from field work will be mapped onto a phylogenetic hypothesis. The hypothesis of genealogical relationships will be constructed from a morphological character data set excluding electric organ morphology. Application of character optimization methods will allow historical sequences in the diversification of the EOD/electric organ system to be identified. The following questions are addressed: (1) Are EODs species "markers" as some research suggest, i.e. what is the taxonomic value of EODs and how variable are EODs within a species? (2) Is phylogenetic distance or community association a better predictor of EOD divergence? (3) Are complexly structured EODs and accessory electric organs primitive or derived, and how many times have they arisen? (4) Are particular EOD features consistently associated with particular electric organ morphologies? (5) Are particular EOD/electric organ features consistently associated with particular habitats/water characteristics?