U.S.-Australia Dissertation Enhancement: Adaptive and Non-Adaptive Radiation in Australian Desert Lizards

0612855 Lovette该奖项支持一个学位论文增强项目，使纽约康奈尔大学的Irby Lovette博士能够与阿德莱德南澳大利亚博物馆的Mark Hutchinson博士和位于Kalgoorlie的西澳大利亚保护和土地管理部的Mark Cowan博士合作。该项目将促进澳大利亚沙漠蜥蜴适应性和非适应性辐射方面的合作。主要的进化辐射在多大程度上是由适应性和非适应性过程驱动的，这是进化生物学中一个关键但尚未回答的问题。适应性辐射意味着种间相互作用和生态机会在物种增殖和表型分化中的重要作用。相比之下，非适应性辐射可能涉及由于性别选择或生物地理过程而导致的多样化，从而导致物种增殖而不会在生态上出现分歧。适应性辐射在大陆生物群组装中的作用在很大程度上是未知的。虽然大多数生物多样性发生在大陆系统，但相对较少的研究使用严格的系统发育和比较方法来了解主要进化辐射期间生态和表型差异的原因。这项拟议的研究将采用比较系统发育的方法来调查适应性和非适应性辐射在澳大利亚蜥蜴属(Ctenotus)多样性中的作用，该属是地球上最特殊的陆地脊椎动物属之一。这项研究将有助于解决在岛屿系统中占主导地位的进化机制是否可以推广到大陆多样化。该项目将包括一名研究生，他将有机会获得全球研究经验。预计各国科学家和学生之间的这些合作将导致长期的合作，这将使所有机构受益。

0612855LovetteThis award supports a dissertation enhancement project to enable Dr. Irby Lovette at Cornell University in New York to collaborate with Dr. Mark Hutchinson at the South Australian Museum in Adelaide and Dr. Mark Cowan at the Western Australia Department of Conservation and Land Management located in Kalgoorlie. The project will facilitate a collaboration on adaptive and non-adaptive radiation in Australian desert lizards. The extent to which major evolutionary radiations are driven by adaptive and non-adaptive processes is a critical but unanswered question in evolutionary biology. Adaptive radiation implies a prominent role for interspecific interactions and ecological opportunity in species proliferation and phenotypic divergence. In contrast, non-adaptive radiation may involve diversification due to sexual selection or biogeographic processes, resulting in species proliferation without divergence in ecology. The role of adaptive radiation in the assembly of continental biotas is largely unknown. Although most biological diversity occurs in continental systems, relatively few studies have used rigorous phylogenetic and comparative methods to understand the causes of ecological and phenotypic divergence during major evolutionary radiations. The proposed research will employ a comparative phylogenetic approach to investigate the role of adaptive and non-adaptive radiation in the diversification of the Australian lizard genus (Ctenotus), one of the most speciose terrestrial vertebrate genera on Earth. The research will help address whether evolutionary mechanisms that predominate in insular systems can be generalized to continental diversification. The project will include a graduate student who will have the opportunity to receive a global research experience. It is anticipated that these collaborations between the scientists and students from each country will lead to long-term collaborations that will benefit all the institutions.