Testing the Ecological Drivers and Phylogenetic Components of Diversification in a Major Continental Vertebrate Radiation

为什么有些生物体类群包含大量物种，而另一些生物体物种却很少？关于地球生物多样性的这个基本问题在很大程度上仍然没有得到解答。在这个项目中，康奈尔大学和澳大利亚合作机构的学生和研究人员将生成遗传数据并创建一套新的数学方法来探索物种群体何时以及为何激增或因灭绝而大量减少。作为这些新技术的试验场，他们将研究一个超级多样化的澳大利亚蜥蜴群体，其中一个祖先已经多样化为数百（甚至数千）个现存物种。该蜥蜴类群异常高的多样性使其成为测试有关生态、气候变化以及时间和空间多样性模式相互作用的想法的特别强大的模型。作为该项目的一部分发明的分析方法将被其他寻求了解其他生物体群体生物多样性的研究团队广泛使用。用于测序和比较 DNA 的实验室方法变得越来越高效，这就产生了对同样强大的分析方法的需求，例如可以将日益丰富的遗传信息用于解决“大问题”的问题。关于生物多样性的问题。除了研究基本生物模式的许多知识原理外，了解生物多样性对于地球生物多样性的有效保护和资源管理也至关重要。

Why do some groups of organisms contain huge numbers of species and others so few? This fundamental question about the earth?s biological diversity remains largely unanswered. In this project, students and researchers from Cornell University and collaborating institutions in Australia will generate genetic data and create a suite of new mathematical approaches to explore when and why groups of species have either proliferated or been decimated by extinction. As a testing ground for these new techniques, they will study a super-diverse group of Australian lizards in which a single ancestor has diversified into hundreds (or maybe thousands) of living species. The unusually high diversity of this lizard group makes it a particularly powerful model for testing ideas about the interplay of ecology, climate change, and patterns of diversity over time and space.The analytical methods invented as part of this project will be used broadly by other research teams seeking to understand the biodiversity of other groups of organisms. Laboratory methods for sequencing and comparing DNA are becoming ever more efficient, creating a need for equally powerful analytical methods such as these that can put this growing wealth of genetic information to use in addressing ?big picture? questions about biological diversity. In addition to the many intellectual rationales for studying fundamental biological patterns, understanding biological diversification is critical for the effective conservation and resource management of the earth?s biological diversity.