U.S.-Mexico Cooperative Research: Adaptation and Migration Among Populations of Spiders (Nephila clavipes)

[123578]希金斯这项美国-墨西哥奖将支持马萨诸塞州大学的林登·e·希金斯博士和墨西哥城墨西哥国立自治大学（UNAM）生态研究所的胡安·努涅斯·法尔凡博士之间的研究合作。研究人员打算研究在不同生境中发现的生物的局部适应进化机制。并不是在不同栖息地发现的所有物种都表现出局部适应，对物种为什么不能进化出局部专业化的更好理解将提高我们对进化多样化如何以及何时进行的理解。他们项目的一个核心问题是：为什么一些物种在不同的栖息地保持一致的单位？大型圆织蜘蛛Nephila clavipes（蜘蛛目：四角蛛科）遍布墨西哥中部和南部，沿着从墨西哥湾沿岸到太平洋沿岸的渐变不断分布，并在中等海拔山区的孤立边缘种群中发现。这些种群之间几乎没有局部分化，在生物学的许多方面表现出很强的表型可塑性。两种可供选择的模型将为研究人员提供关于种群间遗传分化和局部适应数量的可测试预测。从这两种物种相干性模型中产生的预测将通过实地观察、分子遗传学和实验室实验进行验证。此次合作将受益于美国PI在选定蜘蛛物种的生态学、发育、行为和生理学方面的专业知识，以及墨西哥PI在使用数量和种群遗传学框架研究不同生物体的表型进化方面的工作。

0123578 HigginsThis U.S.-Mexico award will support a research collaboration between Dr. Linden E. Higgins of the University of Massachusetts and Dr. Juan Nunez Farfan of the Instituto de Ecologia of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City. The researchers intend to study the mechanisms of evolution of local adaptation in organisms found in diverse habitats. Not all species found in diverse habitats show local adaptation, and an improved understanding of why species fail to evolve local specialization will improve our understanding of how and when evolutionary diversification can proceed. A central question of their project is: Why do some species remain coherent units over diverse habitats? The large, orb-weaving spider Nephila clavipes (Araneae: Tetraglathidae) is found throughout central and southern Mexico, continuously distributed along a cline from the Gulf Coast to the Pacific coast and in isolated peripheral populations in mid-altitude mountainous locations. There is little local differentiation among these populations, and the species exhibits great phenotypic plasticity in many aspects of its biology. Two alternative models will provide the researchers with testable predictions concerning the amount of genetic differentiation and local adaptation among populations. Predictions arising from these two alternative models of species coherence will be tested using field observations, molecular genetics, and laboratory experiments. The collaboration will benefit from bringing together the U.S. PI's expertise on the ecology, development, behavior, and physiology of the chosen spider species, with the Mexican PI's work on the phenotypic evolution in different organisms using the framework of quantitative and population genetics.