SGER: Geometric Morphometrics-Based Visualization and Analysis of Morphological Integration: A New Look at Bivalve Evolution

SGER：基于几何形态测量的可视化和形态整合分析：双壳类进化的新视角。本研究为形态学整合提供了一种新的方法，形态学整合是形态学研究中的一个长期关注的问题。 形态整合是在生物体水平上对形态性状间关系的度量。 形态整合模式描述了一个单系群生物的表型是如何由已识别的性状组装而成的。因此，一个单系分支内的模式的变化是适应性的历史，以及系统发育和功能的限制。本研究提出了一种新的方法，推导和分析模式的形态整合内的一个非常多样的和地质学上古老的分支的双壳类软体动物，超家庭Veneroidea。查看模式的形态整合内的一个分支，并在地质时间，将使这项研究能够解决一个重要的古生物学概念，即精确的作用，表型结构的形态约束，自适应辐射，和系统发育多样化。这一建议是新颖的，因为集成模式将被导出 从几何形态计量学为基础的分析，这将允许直接可视化的研究生物体的表型。这些分析还将涵盖迄今为止为整合研究所考虑的最长地质时间间隔，约为8000万年。此外，建议在最近的网络理论和复杂性数学框架中分析这些模式，因为：1）形态整合的模式是生物体形态区域之间关系的真正网络，2）网络理论最近已应用于生物等级的最低水平，如基因组组织和基因功能，和最高层次，如营养食物网。在物种和单系分支水平上的形态整合模式代表了这两个层次之间的关键环节。

SGER: Geometric Morphometric-based Visualization and Analysis of Morphological Integration: A New Look at Bivalve EvolutionPeter D. RoopnarineEAR-0313560ABSTRACTThe proposed research is a novel approach to morphological integration, a long-standing interest in morphological studies. Morphological integration is a measure of the relationships among morphological characters at the level of the organism. Patterns of morphological integration are descriptions of how the phenotype of a monophyletic group of organisms is actually assembled from recognized characters. Variation of patterns within a monophyletic clade is therefore representative of adaptive histories, as well as phylogenetic and functional constraints. The present study proposes to develop a new method for the derivation and analysis of patterns of morphological integration within a very diverse and geologically old clade of bivalved molluscs, the superfamily Veneroidea. Viewing patterns of morphological integration within a clade, and over geological time, will allow this study to address an important paleobiological concept, namely the precise role of phenotypic construction in morphological constraint, adaptive radiation, and phylogenetic diversification. This proposal is novel because integration patterns will be derived from geometric morphometrics-based analyses, which will allow direct visualization on the phenotypes of the study organisms. The analyses will also encompass the longest interval of geologic time yet considered for a study of integration, approximately 80 million years. Furthermore, it is proposed that these patterns be analyzed in the recent frameworks of network theory and the mathematics of complexity because: 1) Patterns of morphological integration are true networks of relationships among regions of the organism's morphology, and 2) Network theory has been applied recently to both the very lowest levels of the biological hierarchy, such as genomic organization and gene function , and the highest levels, such as trophic food webs. Patterns of morphological integration at the level of species and monophyletic clades represent a critical link between these two ends of the hierarchy.