DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Hybridization, Mimicry, and Species Boundaries in the Limenitis Arthemis Admiral Butterfly Complex

生物多样性研究中的一个中心问题是确定出现新形式的地理和环境背景。蝴蝶为这类研究提供了特殊的模型系统，因为翅膀颜色模式的巨大多样性。这个项目的重点是重建北美东部两个蝴蝶亚种的历史关系和过去的分布。在美国东南部，一个亚种的翅膀图案模仿了同一地区出现的一种无关且令人反感的蝴蝶的翅膀图案。另一个亚种出现在东北部(在那里不出现令人反感的模式)，并保留了这一组的祖先的翅膀模式。这两个亚种在一个广阔的区域重叠和杂交，但离开这个区域，翅膀模式的差异保持不变。来自多个基因的DNA序列数据将被用来推断这些亚种的近代历史和当前翅膀模式多样性的起源。拟议的研究考察了不同形式和物种的起源和维持，这些问题在生物多样性研究中至关重要。它将提供有关过去气候变化和当前环境如何影响现有人口的信息，并将使人们能够预测正在进行的环境变化对未来多样性的潜在影响。最后，对自然杂交区的研究是确定杂交对保护政策和濒危物种保护的影响的先决条件。

A central problem in biodiversity studies is determining the geographic and environmental context in which novel forms arise. Butterflies provide exceptional model systems for such studies because of the enormous diversity of wing color patterns. This project focuses on reconstructing the historical relationships and past distributions of two subspecies of butterflies that occur in eastern North America. In the southeastern United States, one subspecies has wing patterns that mimic those of an unrelated and distasteful butterfly that occurs in the same region. The other subspecies occurs in the northeast (where the distasteful model does not occur) and retains the ancestral wing pattern for this group. The two subspecies overlap and hybridize in a broad region, but away from this region the wing pattern differences are maintained. DNA sequence data from multiple genes will be used to infer the recent history of these subspecies and the origin of the current wing pattern diversity.The proposed research examines the origin and maintenance of distinct forms and species, problems that are of fundamental importance in studies of biodiversity. It will provide information about how past climate change and current environments impact extant populations and will allow predictions about the potential effects of ongoing environmental change on future diversity. Finally, the study of natural hybrid zones is a prerequisite for determining the ramifications of hybridization for conservation policy and the protection of endangered species.