Collaborative Research: AToL: Morphological and Molecular Phylogeny of the Decapod Crustaceans

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Estimated to contain more than 15,000 species, the decapods are the mostspecies rich and economically important group of Crustacea, includingshrimp, crabs, crayfish, and lobsters. Furthermore, many extant familieshave well-documented fossil records. Accordingly, the decapods have been thesubject of more published papers than have all other crustacean groupscombined, due in part to their species richness, economic importance, andmorphologic diversity. Given the prevalence of decapods in the public andscientific mind, understanding the evolutionary history of this significantcrustacean group is crucial. Five principal investigators, K. Crandall, D.Felder, J. Martin, C. Schweitzer and R. Feldman, will lead an internationalgroup of decapod researchers in a collaborative effort to resolvehigher-level decapod relationships by integrating developmental,morphological, molecular, and paleontological evidence. This internationalresearch team, including both lead investigators and collaborating teammembers, has collectively published on every major lineage of decapods, andincludes expertise in comparative morphology, systematic paleontology,molecular, morphological (adult and larval), and combined data phylogeneticanalysis, as well as systematic theory. This group will collect molecular (~20 genes) and morphological (~200 characters) data from nearly all 153 extantfamilies of decapods and morphological data from all 16 fossil families.Data will be rigorously analyzed to estimate evolutionary relationships.The resulting phylogeny will be used to test outstanding hypothesesconcerning decapod evolution and dates of divergences. Taxonomic schemeswill be accordingly revised. In addition, principal investigator N.Hanegan, a science educator, will establish collaborative university andschool projects to integrate effective professional development for teacherswith classroom activities for students, centered on state biology contentstandards through inquiry-based learning. High school students will beengaged in research including question development, data collection, andanalysis while interacting with university researchers and other schools inthe Project Crawfish network. Undergraduates, graduate students, andpostdoctoral associates will be trained across the spectrum of techniques asapplied to decapod systematics. Project Crawfish will train teachers from15 schools across Utah and Louisiana, impacting 22,500 high school students(with high minority representation) concepts through experiential learning.Both the educational and research components will utilize web-baseddissemination of research results and both will strive to produce extensivepeer-reviewed publications, including comprehensive monographic revisions.