Dissertation Research: Reproductive Isolation in the Prosobranch Snail Genus Nucella

当一种机制的进化阻止了先前杂交种群之间的基因交换时，两个种群都获得了独立进化分化的潜力。这一过程被称为生殖隔离或生物物种形成，确保了种群的进化独立性，为进一步的形态、生理和行为分化提供了机会。在这项由该奖项资助的研究中，将开展一项多学科研究计划，整合来自交配研究、化石记录和高度解析的基于dna的种群系统发育的数据，分析两种不同种类的掠食性海螺（Nucella emarginata“北方”和N. emarginata“南方”）之间生殖隔离的进化。这些发现将使我们有可能了解在北美西部岩石海岸发现的潮间带蜗牛最常见的分类群之一的物种形成过程。最终，目前的生物多样性模式直接受到自然界中物种形成的速度的影响。重建生殖隔离进化之前、期间和之后的历史变异模式，可以深入了解驱动隔离机制进化和物种辐射的过程。这些知识可以直接加强保护海洋系统生物多样性的努力。

9623796 Grosberg When a mechanism evolves that prevents the exchange of genes between previously interbreeding populations, both populations gain the potential for independent evolutionary divergence. This process, referred to as reproductive isolation or biological speciation, ensures the evolutionary independence of a population, providing an opportunity for further morphological, physiological, and behavioral divergence. In the research funded by this award a multidisciplinary research plan will be carried out to integrate data from mating studies, the fossil record, and a highly resolved DNA-based phylogeny of populations to analyze the evolution of reproductive isolation between two diverging species of predatory marine snails, Nucella emarginata 'northern' and N. emarginata 'southern'. Findings will make possible an understanding of the process of speciation within one of the most common taxa of intertidal snails found on the rocky shores of western North America. Ultimately, present patterns of biological diversity are directly influenced by the rate at which speciation occurs in nature. Reconstructing the historical patterns of variation before, during, and after the evolution of reproductive isolation provides insight into the processes which drive the evolution of isolating mechanisms and the radiation of species. Such knowledge can directly enhance efforts to conserve biodiversity in marine systems.