DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Sound Production in Spiny Lobsters (Palinuridae): Morphological Constraints and the Evolution of Signal Diversity

生物体使用多种多样的信号进行交流，但对促成这种多样性的因素知之甚少。 解决这个问题的一种方法是研究信号产生中涉及的形态学如何影响这些信号在进化过程中的变化。 形态变化的限制（形态约束）在通信系统的发展过程中很少得到解决，因为信号产生形态往往太复杂，无法分析。 多刺龙虾（Palinuridae）提供了一个重要的模型系统，因为形态和信号特征都可以很容易地量化，因为在这个生物分支中存在显着的变化。 本研究提出了两个具体的目标：（1）构建一个组合的形态和分子系统学的多刺龙虾和（2）使用比较的方法来测试之间的相关性发声形态，周围的触角形态和信号特征。 从这些研究的结果将被用来测试假设形态变化的约束如何影响信号的多样性。 通过对形态变化的约束如何导致信号多样性模式的理解，本研究将为通信系统的结构和功能变化提供新的见解。

Organisms communicate using a diversity of signals, but there is relatively little known of the factors that contribute to this diversity. One approach to addressing this question is to examine how the morphology involved in signal production may influence the way these signals can change over evolutionary time. Limits on morphological variation (morphological constraints) during the evolution of a communication system are rarely addressed because signal-producing morphology is often too complex to be analyzed. Spiny lobsters (Palinuridae) offer an important model system because both morphology and signal features can be easily quantified and because there is significant variation across this clade of organisms. This proposed research addresses two specific aims: (1) to construct a combined morphological and molecular phylogeny of the spiny lobsters and (2) to use comparative methods to test for correlations between sound-producing morphology, the surrounding antennal morphology and signal features. Results from these studies will be used to test hypotheses for how constraints on morphological variation influence signal diversity. Through an understanding of how constraints on morphological variation can lead to patterns of signal diversity, this research will offer novel insights into variation in the structure and function of communication systems.