Chameleon (Reptilia : Chamaeleonidae) Phylogeny, Biogeography and Continental Speciation in Madagascar

变色龙(爬行纲：变色龙科)马达加斯加变色龙的系统发育、生物地理和大陆物种形成代表着马达加斯加和印度洋最壮观的物种群之一，有近100个物种(包括本研究将描述的新物种)。尽管这一热带类群在理解岛屿之间和大陆内部的物种形成过程方面表现出许多令人满意的特征，但我们目前对物种关系缺乏强有力的理解。这个项目将产生第一个基于分子DNA和形态数据的全面的物种水平系统发育图，再加上地理信息系统和新开发的分布建模算法，预计将促进我们对促进物种形成和生物多样性产生的过程的了解。特别是，过去古气候变化驱动物种形成的潜在作用有待研究。该项目是首批将现代物种进化史与古气候变化相结合的项目之一，其结果有望提高我们对大陆上产生新物种的过程的理解：这在现代生物学中仍是一个非常悬而未决的话题。这项研究还整合了新类型的数据(遥感卫星数据、地理信息系统环境层、物种分布模型和分子数据)，以探索其他应用，包括加速发现新物种，制定保护策略。以及预测物种对未来潜在气候变化的反应。

Chameleon (Reptilia: Chamaeleonidae) phylogeny, biogeography, and continental speciation in MadagascarChameleons represent one of the most spectacular species groups in Madagascar and the Indian Ocean, with almost 100 species (including new species to be described by this study). Although this tropical group exhibits many desirable features for understanding processes of speciation between islands and within continents, we currently lack a robust understanding of species relationships. This project will produce the first comprehensive species-level phylogeny based on molecular DNA and morphological data, which coupled with GIS and newly developed distribution modeling algorithms, is expected to advance our knowledge of processes that promote speciation and the generation of biodiversity. In particular, the potential role of past paleo-climatic change driving speciation is to be studied. This project is one of the first to integrate evolutionary histories of modern species with paleo-climatic change, and results are expected to improve our understanding of the processes that produce new species on continents: a topic still very much unresolved in modern biology. This study also integrates new types of data (remotely sensed satellite data, GIS environmental layers, species distribution models, and molecular data) to explore other applications including accelerating the discovery of new species, developing conservation strategies. and predicting species responses to potential future climate change.