Diversifying Coevolution and Ecological Speciation in Crossbills

0212271 Benkman进化生物学的核心问题之一是了解导致新物种的过程。该项目将确定红交嘴雀和黑松之间的共同进化军备竞赛是否以及如何导致新的红交嘴雀（类似雀的鸟类）。首先，标记和再捕获方法将被用来确定是否自然选择作为共同进化的结果，造成了观察到的形态分歧之间的交嘴种群。其次，鸟舍实验和实地研究将解决生殖隔离（即，物种形成）可能是趋异选择的副产品。最后，使用AFLP引物的遗传研究将被用来确定不同的交嘴鸟种群之间的遗传分化程度，并制定一个所有北美红交嘴鸟的亲缘关系。这项工作的目的是将两个最重要的进化过程，共同进化的军备竞赛和物种形成，生物多样性的模式和多样性的地理模式如何出现。能够记录这种共同进化的相互作用，以及它们现在对新物种的起源做出贡献的真实的可能性，不仅令人兴奋，而且还可能提供有助于防止不受欢迎的干扰的见解。这种相互作用在任何分类群中都很少有很好的记录，更不用说引起许多公民注意的鸟类了。

0212271BenkmanOne of the central problems in evolutionary biology is to understand the processes that lead to new species. This project will determine whether and how the coevolutionary arms race between red crossbills and lodgepole pine is leading to new species of red crossbills (finch-like birds). First, mark-and-recapture methods will be used to determine whether natural selection as a result of coevolution has caused the observed morphological divergence between crossbill populations. Second, aviary experiments and field studies will address how reproductive isolation (i.e., speciation) might have occurred as a by-product of divergent selection. Finally, genetic studies using AFLP primers will be used to determine the extent of genetic differentiation between different crossbill populations and to develop a phylogeny of all North American red crossbills. This work aims to link two of the most important evolutionary processes, coevolutionary arms races and speciation, to patterns of biodiversity and to how geographic patterns of diversity arise. Being able to document such coevolutionary interactions, with the real possibility that they are now contributing to the origin of new species, is not only exciting, but may also provide insights that will help prevent undesirable extinctions. Such interactions have rarely been well documented for any taxa, let alone for birds, which capture the attention of many citizens.