US - Uruguay Planning Visit: Ampullariid Model using Phylogenetics, Laboratory Inquiry and Field Investigations into Ecology and Distribution

这次美国-乌拉圭和巴西计划访问计划将支持来自美国的一名初级研究人员、两名高级研究人员和两名本科生，在Romi Burks博士的指导下，于2010年11月对乌拉圭和巴西进行计划访问。这次计划访问将导致来自美国、乌拉圭和巴西的Apple Snail研究人员会面，分享最新研究进展，集思广益，提出互补的研究问题，并撰写一份完整的IRES提案，将本科生纳入他们的项目。该团队融合了博物馆(蒙得维的亚自然历史博物馆、史密森研究所)、研究型大学(夏威夷大学、共和国大学、巴西奥斯瓦尔多·克鲁斯学院)和本科机构(西南大学)的专业知识，创造了侧重于生物学三个子学科的多样化的学生研究经验：即系统发育学、传记和生态学。研究主题包括量化这一未被研究的群体的遗传变异，确定物种形成的模式，确定繁殖潜力，然后假设范围扩大的影响。访问将包括一名职业早期研究人员和两名学生。它有可能产生一个更大的国际项目，让学生在与乌拉圭和巴西的调查人员建立国际合作伙伴关系的同时，获得多种苹果蜗牛收集和归档技术的经验。

This U.S. - Uruguay and Brazil Planning Visit proposals will support one junior and two senior researchers and two undergraduate students from the U.S., under the direction of Dr. Romi Burks, on a planning visit to Uruguay and Brazil in November 2010. This planning visit will result in apple snail investigators from the United States, Uruguay and Brazil meeting together, sharing recent research developments, brainstorming complementary research questions and writing a full IRES proposal that incorporates undergraduates into their program. The team blends expertise from museums (Natural History Museum of Montevideo, Smithsonian Institute), research universities (University of Hawaii, Universidad de la República, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz in Brazil) and an undergraduate institution (Southwestern University) to create diverse student research experiences focused on three sub-disciplines of biology: namely phylogenetics, biography and ecology. The research topics include quantifying genetic variation in this understudied group, identifying patterns of speciation, determining reproductive potential and then hypothesizing about range expansion implications.The visit will involve one early-career researcher and two students. It has the potential to generate a larger international program, which will allow students to gain experience in multiple collection and archiving techniques for apple snails while forging international partnerships with Uruguayan and Brazilian investigators.