Collaborative Research: Phylogeny of leiobunine harvestman (Opiliones) of eastern North America and phylogeny-based tests of sexually antagonistic coevolution

摘要交配的结构和行为往往比其他特征进化得更快。对这种模式的一种解释是，两性之间处于一种永恒的“军备竞赛”中，雄性和雌性为了控制各自在繁殖方面的投资而竞争。合作者舒尔茨和赫丁将在收割者或长腿爸爸身上测试性别冲突假说。他们将带领一个国际团队利用分子序列数据重建90个物种之间的进化关系。由此产生的系统发育树将是这些动物的第一个系统发育树，并将用于确定生殖特征进化变化的时间和方向。统计测试将确定进化模式是否与性别军备竞赛相一致，即一种性别的对抗特征促进另一种性别的防御或对抗特征的进化。该项目将为解决关于生殖特征快速多样化背后的进化机制的持续争议提供急需的数据。此外，该项目还将资助30名来自华盛顿特区低收入家庭的儿童参加马里兰大学的夏令营。向露营者介绍昆虫和其他节肢动物的多样性和科学研究。该项目还将在马里兰大学和圣地亚哥州立大学培养系统生物学和进化生物学的研究生。

AbstractStructures and behaviors used in mating tend to evolve more rapidly than other features. One explanation for this pattern is that the sexes are engaged in a perpetual "arms race" in which males and females vie for control over the investment each makes toward reproduction. Collaborators Shultz and Hedin will test the sexual-conflict hypothesis in harvestmen or daddy long-legs. They will lead an international team to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships among 90 species using molecular sequence data. The resulting phylogenetic tree will be the first for these animals and will be used to determine the timing and direction of evolutionary changes in reproductive features. Statistical tests will determine whether evolutionary patterns are consistent with a sexual arms race in which antagonistic features of one sex promote the evolution of defensive or antagonistic features in the other. The project will generate much-needed data for addressing on-going controversies about the evolutionary mechanisms underlying rapid diversification of reproductive features. In addition, the project will fund 30 children from low-income families in the Washington DC area to participate in a summer day camp at the University of Maryland. Campers are introduced to the diversity and scientific study of insects and other arthropods. The project will also train graduate students in systematics and evolutionary biology at the University of Maryland and San Diego State University.