Dissertation Research: Phylogenetic Relationships Among Macropodidae

小行星9701413 该奖项将为材料和用品提供资金，以加强加州大学滨江分校博士生Angela Burk女士的论文研究，她在Mark Springer博士的监督下工作。 Burk的博士论文研究涉及从Macropodidae的所有活属的代表中获得三个细胞编码基因（12 S rRNA，缬氨酸tRNA和16 S rRNA）和一个核编码基因（鱼精蛋白P1）的DNA序列。 大足类动物包括袋鼠、沙袋鼠和鼠-袋鼠，是所有已知有袋动物中物种最丰富的一组。 这些族群包含62种生物，栖息地多样，包括热带雨林、高山草丛草原和干旱的内陆平原。 过去曾有许多人试图解开Macropodidae的系统发育史，但至今尚未完全解决。 伯克女士的研究将建立这样一个系统发育框架，此外，还将提供所研究分类群的分歧时间的估计。 她的研究还将研究几个形态特征和特征复合体的历史发展，解决有关每个基因的进化速率（分歧）的问题，并评估不同的特征加权方法用于系统发育推断。支持对研究生进行现代技术方面的培训，对于维持能够解决全球生物学问题的科学家队伍至关重要。

9701413 Springer This award will provide funds for materials and supplies to enhance the dissertation research of Ms. Angela Burk, a doctoral student at the University of California - Riverside who is working under the supervision of Dr. Mark Springer. Ms. Burk's dissertation research involves acquisition of DNA sequences from three mitochondrially-encoded genes (12S rRNA, valine tRNA, and 16S rRNA) and one nuclear-encoded gene (protamine P1) from a representative of all living genera of Macropodidae. Macropodids consist of kangaroos, wallabies, and rat-kangaroos, and are the most species-rich group of all known marsupials. The groups contains 62 living species that occupy a wide diversity of habitats, including tropical rain forests, alpine tussock grasslands, and arid inland plains. Numerous attempts have been made previously to unravel the phylogenetic history of Macropodidae, but thus far complete resolution has not been obtained. Ms. Burk's research will establish such a phylogenetic framework and, in addition, will provide estimates of divergence times of examined taxa. Her research also will examine the historical development of several morphological characters and character complexes, address questions regarding rates of evolution (divergence) of each gene, and evaluate different character-weighing approaches for phylogenetic inference. Support for training of graduate students in modern technologies is critical to maintain the workforce of scientists capable of addressing questions and issues in global biology.