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

0123578希金斯这个美国-墨西哥奖项将支持马萨诸塞大学的林登·E·希金斯博士和墨西哥城国家自治大学生态研究所的胡安·努内斯·法尔凡博士之间的研究合作。研究人员打算研究在不同栖息地发现的有机体局部适应的进化机制。并不是所有在不同栖息地发现的物种都表现出局部适应，而更好地理解物种为什么无法进化局部专门化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？大型球状编织蜘蛛NePhila clavipe(蜘蛛目：Tetralathidae)遍布墨西哥中部和南部，从墨西哥湾海岸到太平洋海岸沿着斜坡持续分布，并在中等海拔山区的孤立外围种群中分布。这些种群之间几乎没有局部分化，该物种在其生物学的许多方面都表现出很大的表型可塑性。两个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的数量的可检验预测。这两种可供选择的物种一致性模型所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。这项合作将受益于美国PI在所选蜘蛛物种的生态、发育、行为和生理方面的专业知识，以及墨西哥PI使用数量和种群遗传学框架对不同生物的表型进化所做的工作。

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.