Molecular Systematics, Biogeography, and Conservation Genetics of Asian Anthropoid Primates

东南亚拥有旧世界最丰富的高等灵长类动物（猴子和猿）。尽管有这种多样性，研究历史也很长，但关于现存物种和属的数量以及它们彼此之间的关系，人们几乎没有达成一致。在这些问题上建立一个基本的共识，对于研究人类自身的进化和保护这些独特的亚洲灵长类动物至关重要。本项目的主要目标是：(1)利用一套全面的分子数据重建亚洲猕猴、叶猴和长臂猿之间的进化关系；(2)通过同时考虑它们各自的进化关系、它们目前的地理分布，以及我们所知道的发生这种大多样化的地区的地质过程、气候和生态，重建这三种高等灵长类动物的进化史；(3)为每一类群所包含的物种确定适当的分类单位和地理区域。该项目的成功完成将大大增加我们对哺乳动物进化和保护灵长类生物多样性的认识。

Southeast Asia harbors the greatest diversity of higher primates (monkeys and apes) in the old world. Despite this diversity, and a long history of its study, there is little agreement on the number of species and genera that exist and how they are related to one another. The need to establish a basic consensus on these issues is extremely important to the study of our own evolution and vital to the conservation management of these unique Asian primates. The primary goals of this project are to: (1) use a comprehensive set of molecular data to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships among Asia's macaque monkeys, leaf monkeys, and gibbon apes; (2) reconstruct the evolutionary histories of these three groups of higher primates by simultaneously considering their respective evolutionary relationships, their current geographical distributions, and what we know of the geological processes, climate and ecology of the regions in which this great diversification took place at the time it was occurring; and (3) define the appropriate taxonomic units and geographical regions for the conservation of the species that each group contains. The successful completion of this project will add significantly to our understanding of mammalian evolution and to the conservation of primate biodiversity.