Dissertation Research: Population Differentiation in Migratory Raptors

9321656汤普森许多种类的北美猛禽(猛禽)在北美北部繁殖，并沿着几条迁徙路线飞行到美国南部和墨西哥的越冬地区。据推测，由于鸟类表现出强烈的返回繁殖地的倾向，而且迁徙习惯似乎是可遗传的，北美猛禽物种由地理上彼此不同的种群组成。如果来自不同地理区域的种群使用不同的迁徙路线，可以推测使用不同迁徙路线的猛禽在遗传和形态上会有差异。目前的研究将调查四种猛禽的形态和线粒体DNA(MtDNA)特征，这些猛禽使用三种迁徙路线。可能的差异可能源于独特的捕食习惯、迁徙要求的差异或个体对当地环境的反应。线粒体DNA是一种快速进化的分子，可以反映在部分相互隔离的种群中进化的遗传独特性，因此为研究物种内种群之间的差异提供了一个很好的工具。到目前为止，猛禽种群内部和种群之间的mtDNA关系知之甚少，特别是当它们与物种的地理分布有关时。这项研究将独特地将形态统计分析与使用相同迁徙路线的四种猛禽的mtDNA关系结合起来。这项研究将确定北美不同地理区域的猛禽在多大程度上进化出了独特的形态和遗传特征。了解物种内猛禽种群之间的差异，对于了解这些顶级捕食者的生态学，以及进一步了解保护和进化生物学知识是至关重要的。

9321656 Thompson Many species of North American birds of prey (raptors) breed in northern North America and fly along several migration routes to wintering areas in the southern United States and Mexico. It is hypothesized that because birds show a strong tendency to return to their breeding grounds and because migratory habits seem to be heritable, North American raptor species are composed of populations which are geographically distinct from one another. If populations from different geographic areas use separate migratory routes, it can be postulated that raptors using different migration routes will be genetically and morphologically divergent. The current research will investigate morphological and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) characteristics of four species of raptors which use three migration routes. Possible differences might stem from unique predatory habits, differences in migratory requirements, or individual responses to the local environment. Mitochondrial DNA provides an excellent tool for investigating differences between populations within a species because it is a quickly evolving molecule and can reflect genetic uniqueness which may evolve in populations that are partially isolated from one another. Little is known to date of mtDNA relationships within and between raptor populations especially as they relate to the geographic distribution of species.%%% This study will uniquely combine statistical analysis of morphology with mtDNA relationships for four species of raptors using the same migration routes. This study will establish to what degree raptors from different geographic areas in North America have evolved unique morphological and genetic characteristics. An understanding of the differences between raptor populations within species is essential to an understanding of the ecology of these top predators and to further our knowledge of conservation and evolutionary biology.***