U.S.-Argentina Cooperative Research: Testing for Behavioral Convergence

9870142马丁斯这个美洲项目奖将资助Emilia P. Martins博士，俄勒冈大学尤金分校和Emilia P. Martins博士的合作研究项目。阿根廷图库曼大学的Monique Halloy和智利大学的Antonieta Labra对趋同的进化过程进行了研究，趋同是自然选择进化的一个更显著的例子。在这种进化现象中，远亲类群在适应相似的环境时变得彼此相似。这项研究将包括在阿根廷和智利进行实地考察，收集录像带和组织样本。分子实验室工作和计算机分析将在俄勒冈大学进行。研究人员将应用最近发展的统计系统发育方法来测试两组蜥蜴的进化趋同性，这两组蜥蜴只是远亲，但在形态和行为上有许多共同的特征。通过在系统发育上叠加交流表现，并推断导致两类蜥蜴相似路径多样化的实际模式和过程，他们将确定进化是否在两类蜥蜴中遵循了相似的路径，或者是否只是简单地落在了相似的最终解决方案上。他们还将运用现代系统发育比较方法来研究趋同问题，发展一种统计方法来确定两组分类群是否经历了类似的选择压力。该项目是美国、智利和阿根廷三国潜在长期合作的第一步

9870142MartinsThis Americas Program award will fund a collaborative research project between Dr. Emilia P. Martins, University of Oregon, Eugene and Drs. Monique Halloy, University of Tucuman, Argentina and Antonieta Labra, Universidad de Chile, on a study of the evolutionary processes underlying convergence, one of the more remarkable examples of evolution by natural selection. In this evolutionary phenomenon, distantly related taxa become similar to one another as they adapt to similar environments. The study will involve fieldwork in Argentina and Chile to collect videotapes and tissue samples. Molecular lab work and computer analyses will be conducted at the University of Oregon.The researchers will apply recently developed statistical phylogenetic methods to test for evolutionary convergence two groups of lizards which are only distantly related, but which share a number of morphological and behavioral features. By overlaying the communicative displays on a phylogeny, and inferring the actual patterns and processes leading to diversification of the similar pathways in the two groups of lizards, they will determine whether evolution has followed similar pathways in both groups, or whether it has simply landed on similar final solutions. They will also apply modern phylogenetic comparative methods to the question of convergence, developing a statistical approach to determining whether two groups of taxa have been undergoing similar sorts of selective pressures. This project is a first step in a potential long-term collaboration across three countries, the US, Chile and Argentina.***