Phylogeography of New Zealand Cicadas

项目目标、范围和方法：研究将涉及使用线粒体和核基因对新西兰广泛分布的三组蝉进行精细的地理/系谱研究。对这些分子数据的分析，结合求爱歌曲和形态差异，将提高对地理上孤立的种群之间的遗传差异最终如何导致物种形成的理解。这项研究将提供新西兰蝉生物多样性的更完整的图景。虽然线粒体基因技术很发达，但核基因的技术却落后了。然而，在过去的几年里，各种动物的完整核基因组序列的获得揭示了大量的候选基因，可以用于研究密切相关的类群。更广泛的意义：该项目的长期目标是探索与以下相关的广泛的重要生物学问题：生物多样性的起源、进化和传播；生活史的进化；进化树中分歧时间的估计；以及在系谱树构建中的应用。受训人员--包括本科生、研究生和博士后--学习种群生物学的基本技能，例如，标本收集；数据库建设；遗传和行为数据的收集和分析；以及书面、口头和基于网络的数据传播。

Project goals, scope and methods: Research will involve a fine-scale geographic/genealogical study of three widely co-distributed groups of New Zealand cicadas using mitochondrial and nuclear genes. Analyses of these molecular data, in combination with courtship song and morphological differences, will improve understanding of how genetic differences among geographically isolated populations may eventually lead to speciation.This study will provide a more complete picture of New Zealand cicada biodiversity. While mitochondrial gene techniques are well developed, those for nuclear genes lag behind. However, in the last few years, the availability of complete nuclear genome sequences for a variety of animals has revealed a large number of candidate genes that can be used for studying closely related taxa. Broader significance: The longer-term goals of the project are to explore a broad range of important biological questions relating to: the origin, evolution, and spread of biological diversity; the evolution of life histories; the estimation of times of divergence in evolutionary trees; and application to genealogical tree-building. Trainees--including undergraduates, graduate and postdoctoral students--learn skills essential in population biology, e.g., specimen collection; database construction; collection and analysis of genetic and behavioral data; and written, oral, and web-based data dissemination.