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

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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.***