Historical Phylogeny of Tahitian Partula, an Almost Extirpated Land Snail Fauna

大溪地帕尔图拉（一种几乎灭绝的陆地蜗牛动物群）的历史系统发育

• 批准号: 0425984
• 负责人: Diarmaid O'Foighil
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-08-01 至 2007-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0425984&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Historical; Phylogeny; Tahitian; Partula; Almost

Oceanic islands hold particular interest for both evolutionary andconservation biologists. Native plants and animals evolved in isolation onthese islands and provide detailed insights into fundamental evolutionaryprocesses. However, they characteristically lack well-developed defensivemechanisms and are exceptionally vulnerable to introduced predators. UsingDNA analyses of museum specimens, we aim to reconstruct the evolutionaryhistory of a critically threatened radiation of land snails from Tahiti(French Polynesia). This Pacific island snail fauna has recently beendriven to the brink of extinction by an introduced predatory landsnail. Our museum samples predate the introduction of the predator and, intheir DNA, they collectively contain a genealogical record that we can useto revise the traditional shell-based taxonomy and to determine how allthese snails evolved on such a small, geologically young, island.Our research will have practical value in helping to prioritize on-goingconservation and rehabilitation efforts. Collaborative agreements havebeen established with Zoological Society of London personnel involved inoverseeing captive Tahitian snail zoo populations and in saving the lastremnant wild populations. Our shared aim is to place the remnant wild andcaptive populations into their proper evolutionary context: that of thepreviously intact fauna, by obtaining DNA profiles of extant wild andcaptive populations that will be referenced with our historical Tahitiandatabase. Preliminary efforts have received considerable general publicity(e.g., http://whyfiles.org/shorties/151land_snail/index.html). Weanticipate that our research will be of interest to that fraction of thepublic keen on high-profile conservation biology issues.

进化论生物学家和自然保护生物学家对海洋岛屿都特别感兴趣。当地的动植物在这些岛屿上与世隔绝地进化，并提供了对基本进化过程的详细见解。然而，它们的特点是缺乏完善的防御机制，特别容易受到引入的捕食者的攻击。利用博物馆标本的DNA分析，我们旨在重建来自塔希提岛(法属波利尼西亚)的陆地蜗牛受到严重威胁的辐射的进化史。这个太平洋岛屿的蜗牛动物群最近被一种引入的捕食性陆地蜗牛逼到了灭绝的边缘。我们的博物馆样本早于捕食者的引入，在它们的DNA中，它们共同包含了家谱记录，我们可以用来修改传统的基于贝壳的分类，并确定所有这些蜗牛是如何在这样一个地质上年轻的小岛上进化的。我们的研究将对帮助优先进行保护和恢复工作具有实用价值。已经与伦敦动物学会的工作人员达成了合作协议，这些人员负责监督圈养的塔希提蜗牛动物园的种群，并拯救驯养的野生种群。我们的共同目标是通过获取现存野生种群和圈养种群的DNA图谱，将其与我们历史上的塔希提亚数据库相参照，将剩余的野生种群和圈养种群置于其适当的进化背景中：先前完好的动物的进化背景。初步努力得到了广泛的宣传(例如，http://whyfiles.org/shorties/151land_snail/index.html).我们预计，我们的研究将会引起那些热衷于高调保护生物学问题的公众的兴趣。