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动物（蛤蜊、牡蛎、贻贝、扇贝等）的进化关系。双壳类是一种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、饰品业和健康科学等领域也具有重要的经济作用。双壳类是现存软体动物的第二大门类，而软体动物又构成了第二大动物门和海洋领域中最大的动物门。双壳类动物的进化史和相互关系将通过对双壳类动物解剖学的全新研究，结合对同种动物的DNA标记进行形态学研究。这个国际研究小组将收集形态学和分子系统发育数据，其详细程度前所未有。推广活动将使不同的受众参与到项目的成果和整个进化科学中来。这个项目为传播进化的概念提供了一个绝佳的机会，而这组研究人员很适合完成这项工作。博物馆将以巡回展览（“半壳上的进化”）和相关教材的形式，为K-12教师及其学生、大专教师及其学生和公众开发使用双壳类动物的展览和教学材料。

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.