DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Molecular Systematics of the Family Drosophilidae

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9623559 Kidwell This award will provide funds for materials and supplies as well as travel funds to support both collecting in Costa Rica and study of specimens at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The support will enhance the dissertation of Patrick M. O'Grady II who is a graduate student with Dr. Margaret G. Kidwell at the University of Arizona. The student's dissertation project involves phylogenetic analysis of molecular sequence data from two independent genes (Adh and COII) to assess relationships among genera of flies in the family Drosophilidae (Insecta: Diptera). The genus Drosophila has been and is such a classic model system that a well-supported phylogeny of this group will have broad utility to other researchers addressing questions of reproductive biology, development, ecology, biogeography, genetic history, etc.. To date, hypothesized phylogenies for the family Drosophilidae have suggested contradictory or incongruent patterns of relationships. This project hopes to correct that situation and to use the two molecular data sets obtained to address analytical issues such as quantifying levels of congruence among competing hypotheses/phylogenies and whether combined evidence or separate analyses are of greater utility. This award will provide support for a graduate student pursuing studies of relationships among genera in the family of flies to which the genus Drosophila belongs. These flies are well known experimental animals for many areas of biology and understanding of their historical relationships will be of value in many kinds of research. The project will also investigate means of analyzing complex and sometimes conflicting molecular data. Support for the training of graduate students in modern systematic and population biology methodologies is important for maintaining the workforce of scientists capable of addressing the questions and issues of biodiversity which are of increasing global concern.