Dissertation Research: Linking Ecology to Phylogeography: The Desmognathus Salamander Assemblage

论文研究：将生态学与系统发育地理学联系起来：带颌蝾螈组合

• 批准号: 9801305
• 负责人: Henry Wilbur
• 金额: $ 1万
• 依托单位: University of Virginia Main Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1998
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1998-07-15 至 2000-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9801305&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Linking; Ecology; Phylogeography

9801305 Wilbur To conserve biodiversity it is essential to understand and document patterns of genetic variation in natural populations. Much work by community ecologists has shown that species interactions can influence spatial variation in population sizes and dispersal rates, two factors known to impact the magnitude of genetic variation in populations. Population geneticists, however, have given less emphasis to how species interactions influence levels of population differentiation and speciation. There is a need to bridge this gap by utilizing a system in which a mechanistic understanding of the factors influencing movement patterns and population sizes can be developed. The salamander genus Desmognathus in the eastern United States is a model system for examining species interactions and their possible role in the evolution of terrestriality. The southern Appalachians support the world center of salamander diversity. Streams commonly support four Desmognathus species that form an ecological continuum from a large, more fully aquatic species to a small, predominately terrestrial species. The Eastern Continental Divide separates streams that contain D. quadramaculatus from those that do not. The mere presence of this large, predaceous salamander is known to affect the distribution and abundance of the other more terrestrial Desmognathus species. In this doctoral dissertation research, Henry M. Wilbur and student Leslie J. Rissler will utilize modern genetic techniques employing mitochondrial DNA markers to address the spatial scale of genetic variation within these Desmognathus species. Work emphasizes the contributions of both ecological and genetic tools to determine (1) the major biogeographic boundaries for each of the four Desmognathus species which exhibit varying degrees of terrestriality and (2) the influence of species interactions in structuring the extent of genetic variation in populations.

为了保护生物多样性，了解和记录自然种群的遗传变异模式是至关重要的。群落生态学家的大量工作表明，物种相互作用可以影响种群大小和扩散速度的空间变化，这两个因素已知会影响种群遗传变异的大小。然而，种群遗传学家很少强调物种相互作用如何影响种群分化和物种形成水平。有必要利用一种系统来弥合这一差距，在这种系统中，可以对影响流动模式和人口规模的因素有一种机械的了解。美国东部的蝾螈属Desmognathus是研究物种相互作用及其在陆生进化中的可能作用的模型系统。阿巴拉契亚山脉南部是世界蝾螈多样性的中心。溪流通常支持四种丝茅属植物，形成一个生态连续体，从一个大的，更充分的水生物种到一个小的，主要是陆生物种。东部大陆分水岭将含有quadramaculatus的河流与不含的河流分开。人们知道，这种大型食肉蝾螈的存在会影响其他更陆生的蝾螈物种的分布和丰度。在这篇博士论文研究中，Henry M. Wilbur和学生Leslie J. Rissler将利用现代遗传技术，利用线粒体DNA标记来解决这些丝茅属物种遗传变异的空间尺度。工作强调了生态和遗传工具的贡献，以确定(1)表现出不同程度的陆生性的四种Desmognathus物种中的每一种的主要生物地理边界和(2)物种相互作用在构建种群遗传变异程度方面的影响。