Genetics of Rapid Multivariate Evolution and Speciation

该项目利用快速进化的湖泊种群的三棘鱼（Gasterosteus aculeatus），以解决两个进化问题。 (1)遗传变异会影响进化的方向吗？ 遗传协方差矩阵（G矩阵），总结了遗传性状的变化和协会，将计算湖泊人口及其海洋祖先。 G矩阵将相互比较，并与表型协方差矩阵（P矩阵）进行比较，表型协方差矩阵总结了总的性状变异和关联。 G和P矩阵将进行分析，以推断他们是否有偏见的后代湖泊人口和G内的演变方向。 (2)后代湖泊种群对生态条件的适应是否减少了后代和祖先种群之间的杂交，即，后代是新物种吗 配偶选择实验将被用来观察这些种群是否更喜欢自己种群的成员而不是其他种群的成员作为配偶。 该项目将表明遗传变异是否会影响自然种群的进化，新物种是否是适应生态条件的副产品。它将提高我们对刺鱼多样性和适应新环境和物种形成的速度的理解，这对生物多样性的恢复有影响。最后，它将促进阿拉斯加大学安克雷奇分校和斯托尼布鲁克大学的生物学家之间的合作，并为这两个机构的研究生和本科生提供研究经验。

This project exploits rapid evolution in a lake population of threespine stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus) to address two evolutionary questions. (1) Does genetic variation bias the direction of evolution? Genetic covariance matrices (G matrices), which summarize heritable trait variation and associations, will be computed for the lake population and its marine ancestor. The G matrices will be compared to each other and to phenotypic covariance matrices (P matrices), which summarize total trait variation and associations. G and P matrices will be analyzed to infer whether they have biased the direction of evolution within the descendant lake population and G has evolved. (2) Does adaptation to ecological conditions in the descendant lake population reduce interbreeding between the descendant and ancestral poulations, i.e., is the descendant a new species? Mate choice experiments will be used to see if these populations prefer members of their own population to those of the other as mates. This project will indicate whether genetic variation biases evolution of natural populations and new species form as a byproduct of adaptation to ecological conditions. It will improve our understanding of stickleback diversification and rates of adaptation to new environments and speciation, which have implications for restoration of biodiversity. Finally, it will facilitate collaboration between biologists at the University of Alaska, Anchorage and Stony Brook University and give graduate and undergraduate students at both institutions research experience.