Adaptive Radiation and Evolutionary Convergence in Neotropical Cichlids

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The cichlid fishes are one of the most diverse and ecologically important families of fishes inhabiting freshwaters of the planet. Decades of extensive research on the cichlid fishes inhabiting the great rift lakes of East Africa have provided science with one of the clearest examples of evolution leading to the generation ecological diversity. In the Western Hemisphere, the family Cichlidae ranges from Texas to Argentina, and species display a very broad array of ecological, morphological, and behavioral traits. Unfortunately, evolutionary relationships among major groups of Neotropical cichlids are incompletely resolved, making modern quantitative assessment of ecological diversification impossible. This research project uses nucleotide sequences from mitochondrial and nuclear genomes in combination with a set of morphological characters to investigate relationships within and between two species-rich and ecologically diverse lineages of cichlid fishes. The resultant evolutionary model will be used as a framework for examining patterns of ecological diversification (adaptive radiation) in this important group of fishes. Studies of adaptive radiation and convergence require the integration of information from phylogeny, ecology, and morphology. This study integrates such information for cichlid fishes in the Western Hemisphere, a group that holds great promise for providing a second model system for the study of adaptive radiation. Cichlid fishes have great economic importance, because they support major commercial, subsistence, and recreational fisheries throughout the Western Hemisphere. Many species are also important in the aquarium fish industry worldwide. New ecological and molecular data on cichlid fishes will be made available to the scientific community as databases on permanent websites. The project also has major educational components. Undergraduate students enrolled in two NSF training grants will participate in field research in Latin America and laboratory research related to evolutionary or ecological components of this grant. Graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher also will receive training through participation in the project. Activities and results of this research will be disseminated through scientific publications, websites, and resources associated with the Center for Application of Informational Technology in Teaching and Learning Science, an NSF-funded program that emphasizes web-based techniques for enhancing K-12 science education.