Research Starter Grant: Comparative Phylogeography of Amphibians Across the Southern Appalachians and Gulf Coastal Plain

了解在生物地理区域内产生遗传和生态多样性的力量对于了解物种的起源和分布至关重要。一种方法是使用进化史的比较来确定生物多样性的模式，并推断支配这些分布的过程。了解遗传多样性的空间模式对于评估地理、生态和历史对决定生物空间分布的影响至关重要。拟议的研究集中在阿巴拉契亚山脉南部和墨西哥湾沿岸平原的多种共同分布的两栖动物物种上。研究人员采用分子系统发育和种群遗传学的方法，并结合地理信息系统(GIS)框架中的空间显式生态分析来解决生物地理学中的问题。这种方法既新颖又严谨，并使用了研究人员在加州大学伯克利分校从事博士后研究期间开发的技术。这一方法将增进对美国东南部两栖动物种群的地理分布和系统发育关系的了解，并有助于更好地了解区域生物地理和生物多样性。此外，这项研究对保护很重要，因为系统地理分析经常揭示隐藏谱系的存在；对于两栖动物来说尤其如此。这项拟议的研究在关注跨越阿巴拉契亚山脉南部和墨西哥湾沿岸平原生物区的多种两栖动物方面是独一无二的。这项工作对于了解冰川避难所、扩散能力和气候对美国东南部两栖动物物种内部和之间遗传变异分布的相对影响具有广泛的意义。该研究为本科生和研究生的职业发展提供了大量机会。学生可以在野外采集、博物馆准备、DNA测序和地理信息系统分析过程中协助调查人员。这项研究将加强阿拉巴马大学生物科学系和地理系之间的联系。与国家森林和公园的州和联邦雇员可能会进行合作。

Understanding the forces responsible for generating genetic and ecological diversity across a biogeographic region is critical to understanding the origin and distribution of species. One approach is to use comparisons of evolutionary history to determine patterns of biodiversity and infer the processes governing these distributions. An understanding of the spatial pattern of genetic diversity is critical for evaluating the affect of geography, ecology, and history in determining spatial distributions of organisms.The proposed research focuses on multiple, co-distributed amphibian species in the southern Appalachians and Gulf Coastal Plain. The investigator takes a molecular phylogenetic and population genetic approach in combination with spatially explicit ecological analyses in a geographic information systems (GIS) framework to address questions in biogeography. This approach is both novel and rigorous, and uses techniques developed during the investigator's postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California at Berkeley. This approach will improve knowledge of geographic distributions and phylogenetic relationships among populations of amphibians in the southeastern United States and lead to a better understanding of regional biogeography and biodiversity. In addition, the research is important for conservation because phylogeographic analyses often reveal the existence of hidden lineages; this is especially true for amphibians. The proposed research is unique in focusing on multiple species of amphibians that span the southern Appalachians and Gulf Coastal Plain bioregions. The work has broad significance in terms of understanding the relative impact of glacial refugia, dispersal ability, and climate on the distribution of genetic variation within and among amphibian species of the southeastern United States.The proposed research provides numerous opportunities for the career development of undergraduate students and graduate students. Students can assist the investigator during field collections, museum preparations, DNA sequencing, and GIS analyses. The research will strengthen relations between the departments of biological sciences and geography at the University of Alabama. Collaborations will likely result with state and federal employees in national forests and parks.