DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Linking population genetic patterns of introgressive hybridization to the breakdown of reproductive barriers in Darters (Percidae)

生物多样性取决于物种之间生殖隔离障碍的维持和消除的相互作用。然而，生殖障碍的完整性在一个物种的地理范围内可能并不一致，导致物种之间的杂交和遗传交换的马赛克。在彩虹镖鲈（Etheostoma caeruarus）和橙黄镖鲈（E. spectabile）在美国东南部。该项目将调查杂交的形成和选择的压力，对他们的行为，使用这些镖鲈物种内和之间的实验交叉，并将确定地理模式的强度和对称性交配后的障碍。杂交可能是对濒危物种的严重威胁，但人类介导的干扰和生殖障碍的破坏之间的关系尚不清楚。 在大约230种镖鲈中，近三分之一被认为是脆弱的，受威胁的或濒危的，这项研究将为这些和其他物种的保护和管理提供信息。 该项目还为本科生提供人口遗传学、生殖生物学、博物馆技术和实地研究方面的培训，并为博物馆收藏和公共数据库提供标本和数据。

Biodiversity depends on the interplay of maintenance and dissolution of reproductive isolating barriers between species. However, the completeness of reproductive barriers may not be uniform across a species' geographic range, resulting in a mosaic of hybridization and genetic exchange between species. A mosaic pattern of hybridization appears within the overlapping geographic ranges of Rainbow Darters (Etheostoma caeruleum) and Orangethroat darters (E. spectabile) in the southeastern United States. This project will investigate the formation of hybrids and the selection pressures that act against them, using experimental crosses within and between these darter species, and will determine geographic patterns in the strength and symmetry of post-mating barriers. Hybridization can be a serious threat to endangered species, but the relationship between human-mediated disturbance and breakdown of reproductive barriers is not understood. Nearly one third of the approximately 230 species of darters are considered vulnerable, threatened, or endangered, and this research will inform conservation and management of these and other species. This project also provides training in population genetics, reproductive biology, museum techniques, and field-based research to undergraduate students and contributes specimen and data to museum collections and public data bases.