Collaborative Research: AToL: Phylogeny on the Half-shell -- Assembling the Bivalve Tree of Life

在这个项目中，一个庞大的研究团队将解决双壳类(文蛤、牡蛎、贻贝、扇贝等)之间的进化关系。双壳类是一类多样而熟悉的软体动物，有着古老而保存完好的化石记录。双壳类在海洋和淡水生态系统中具有重要的生态作用，在渔业、装饰业和健康科学等方面也具有经济作用。双壳类是第二大类活的软体动物，而软体动物又是第二大动物门，也是海洋领域中最大的。双壳类的进化史和亲缘关系将通过对双壳类解剖学的重新审视，结合对从形态上调查的同一物种的选定DNA标记的研究来研究。这个国际研究小组将以前所未有的详细程度收集形态和分子系统发育数据。外联活动将使不同的受众参与到该项目的成果和整个进化科学中来。这个项目提供了一个很好的机会来传播进化的概念，这个研究团队处于很好的位置来实现这一点。将以巡回展览(《半壳类的进化》)和相关教材的形式，为K-12教师和学生、中学后教师和学生以及普通公众开发博物馆展品和使用双壳类动物的教学材料。

In this project, a large team of investigators will resolve evolutionary relationships within the bivalves (clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, etc.). Bivalves are a diverse and familiar group of mollusks with an old and well-preserved fossil record. Bivalves have important ecological roles in marine and freshwater ecosystems, and economic roles including fisheries, the ornament industry, and health sciences. Bivalves are the second largest class of living mollusks, which in turn constitute the second largest animal phylum and the largest in the marine realm. The evolutionary history and relationships of bivalves will be investigated through a fresh look at bivalve anatomy in combination with study of selected DNA markers for the same species investigated morphologically. This international team of investigators will assemble morphological and molecular phylogenetic data at levels of detail never before attempted. Outreach activities will engage various audiences in the project's results and in evolutionary science as a whole. This project presents an excellent opportunity for outreach to communicate the concepts of evolution, and this team of researchers is well-placed to accomplish this. Museum exhibits and instructional materials using bivalves will be developed for K-12 teachers and their students, post-secondary teachers and their students, and the general public, in the form of a traveling exhibit ("Evolution on the Half-Shell") and associated teaching materials.