DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Testing Hypotheses of Morphological Differentiation in the Introduced Lizard, Anolis sagrei

目前物种引进的速度是前所未有的。将新物种引入到与它们没有最近进化历史的群落中会导致引入物种与其新环境之间以及引入物种与本地物种之间的新相互作用。这些无计划的实验可能被用来询问有关基本生态和进化过程的问题。利用引进的蜥蜴，阿诺利斯sagrei，我们将测试的假设形态分化预测栖息地的使用两个特征，以及支持原生种群之间的生态形态关系。我们将测试的假设，后肢长度和趾垫lamabeles数区分的方向预测的直径和高度的栖息地，蜥蜴占据。为了确定引进人口的起源，我们将重建的历史，通过分配线粒体DNA单倍型从引进人口的支持，地理上限制在本地范围内的单倍型分支。这允许识别用于假设检验的引入源群体比较。介绍提供了一个极好的机会来测试适应性性状分化的假设。在更广泛的层面上，研究引进种群的分化和进化过程的模式，可以更好地了解生物入侵的原因，进展和预测，这对生物多样性构成了重大威胁。

The current rate of species introductions is unprecedented. Introductions of new species into communities with which they share no recent evolutionary history results in novel interactions between the introduced species and its new environment, and between introduced and native species. These unplanned experiments may be used to ask questions about fundamental ecological and evolutionary processes. Using introductions of the lizard, Anolis sagrei, we will test hypotheses about morphological differentiation predicted from habitat use for two traits with well-supported ecomorphological relationships among native populations. We will test the hypotheses that hindlimb length and toe-pad lamellae number differentiate in the direction predicted from the diameter and height of perches that lizards occupy. To identify the origin of introduced populations, we will reconstruct the history of the introduction by assigning mitochondrial DNA haplotypes from introduced populations to well-supported, geographically circumscribed haplotype clades in the native range. This allows identification of introduced-source population comparisons for hypothesis testing. Introductions present an excellent opportunity to test hypotheses of adaptive trait differentiation. At a broader level, studying patterns of differentiation and evolutionary processes in introduced populations leads to a better understanding of the causes, progression, and prediction of biological invasions, which pose a major threat to biodiversity.