International Research Fellowship Program: Is the Correlated Morphology between Long-Proboscis Fly Prosoeca Ganglebauri & the Flower Zaluzianskya Microsiphon Due to Co-Evolution?

0701336 Morita国际研究奖学金计划使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行9至24个月的研究。该计划的奖项提供了联合研究的机会，并利用国外独特或互补的设施、专业知识和实验条件。该奖项将支持谢拉·I·森田博士为期24个月的研究奖学金，与南非斯泰伦博施大学的布鲁斯·安德森博士和南非夸祖鲁·纳塔尔大学的史蒂文·约翰逊博士合作。这项研究是第一次对长鼻苍蝇传粉者的鼻子长度的选择压力进行批判性评估。具体地说，它研究了长舌蝇Prosoeca anglbauerii和长管花Zaluzianskya microsiphon(Anderson等人)在形态上的地理相关性。2005)使用宏观和微观进化论方法。首先，他们正在调查南非原虫物种的系统发育，以确定原虫类物种复合体中进化单位的数量。利用这一点，他们正在研究在历史背景下短吻鱼喙长度的进化。这是通过探索这种苍蝇物种的系统地理结构，并使用共同系统发育和基于矩阵的方法测试它是否与Zaluzianskya Microsiphon有共同的进化史来实现的。他们还通过绘制不同Zaluzianskya花物种的分布与Proeseca中喙长度的比较，来测试Zaluzianskya在消除苍蝇喙形态地理差异方面的预测价值。研究人员希望发现，短角叉尾藻的物种复合体不只一个物种。他们还希望在苍蝇和花卉的系统发育之间找到很好的匹配，这表明它们是共同进化的。最后，他们希望发现某些形态的Zaluzianskya花能够预测果蝇鼻子长度的地理分布。这样做将有助于我们理解植物和传粉者之间的共同进化关系。这项研究的结果将有助于理解和更好地保护这些长吻苍蝇物种。由于这些植物对单一种类的传粉者的高度保真度，这种苍蝇可以被视为关键物种。如果没有Prosoeca Ganglbauri，几种植物可能面临繁殖失败和最终灭绝的危险。这一系统有可能成为共同进化研究的一个引人入胜的模式，也是从保护的角度研究的一个重要系统。

0701336MoritaThe International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct nine to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.This award will support a twenty-four-month research fellowship by Dr. Shelah I. Morita to work Dr. Bruce Anderson at University of Stellenbosch, South Africa and Dr. Steven Johnson at University of KwaZulu Natal, South AfricaThis study is the first to assess critically the selection pressures on proboscis length for a long-proboscis fly pollinator. Specifically, it examines the geographic correlation in morphology between the long-tongued fly, Prosoeca ganglbauerii and the long-tubed flower, Zaluzianskya microsiphon (Anderson et al. 2005) using both macro- and microevolutoinary methods. First, they are investigating the phylogeny of Prosoeca species in South Africa to determine the number of evolutionary units in the Proseca ganglbaueri species complex. Using this, they are examining the evolution of proboscis length in Prosoeca ganglbaueri in an historical context. This is achieved by exploring the phylogeographic structure of this fly species and testing whether it has a common evolutionary history with Zaluzianskya microsiphon with both co-phylogenetic and matrix based methods. They are also testing the predictive value of Zaluzianskya in detrmining geographical differences in fly proboscis morphology by mapping the distribution of different Zaluzianskya floral species in comparison to proboscis length in Proeseca. The researchers expect to find that the Prosoeca ganglebauri species complex is more than one species. They also expect to find a good match between the phylogenies of the fly and the flower, indicating that they are coevolved. Finally, they expect to find that Zaluzianskya flowers of certain morphologies are able to predict the geographic distribution of proboscis length in the flies. Doing so will aid in our understanding of coevolutionary relationships between plants and pollinators. The results of this study will help understand and better preserve these species of long-proboscis flies. Because of the high fidelity of these plants to just a single species of pollinator, this fly can be regarded as a keystone species. Without Prosoeca ganglbauri, several plants may face the danger of reproductive failure and ultimate extinction. This system has the potential to serve as a fascinating model for coevolutionary studies as well as being an important system to study from a conservation perspective.