DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Diversification and species delimitation in lizard malaria parasites

疟原虫属中的疟疾寄生虫众所周知会在人类身上致病，但在这个属的大约200个物种中，有一半使用蜥蜴作为脊椎动物的宿主，其中许多物种可以在巴拿马的蜥蜴身上找到。这些寄生虫一直是生态学、流行病学和行为学研究的重点，但它们的分类和多样化模式尚不清楚，这阻碍了它们作为研究疾病的模型。这项研究的第一个目标是解决这些巴拿马寄生虫的分类问题。传统上，疟疾寄生虫物种是根据其形态的差异进行分类的，但巴拿马物种简单而不断变化的形态几十年来一直让分类学家感到困惑。它们的分类将通过使用新的物种界定方法分析遗传信息来修订。这项研究的第二个目标是阐明广泛存在的蜥蜴寄生虫弗罗里登斯疟原虫的多样化模式。它分布在北美南部、整个加勒比海地区和中美洲，但像大多数疟疾寄生虫一样，它的殖民史仍然不为人知。从巴拿马新采集的样本将与以前从S寄生虫范围内收集的样本相结合，这些样本将被用来阐明寄生虫S的多样化模式。这项研究的结果将被广泛传播，并用于促进教与学。课程材料将与美国自然历史博物馆(AMNH)的戈特斯曼中心合作开发，用于纽约市的高中生物课堂。讲座和实验室活动也将作为AMNH科学研究指导计划的一部分进行开发。这两个项目都将向城市高中生介绍生命之树上种类繁多的寄生虫。最后，这项研究的结果将在两个博客上张贴几个条目，每个博客都有很好的知名度和广泛的读者群，以便于向普通公众传播这项研究。

Malaria parasites in the genus Plasmodium are well known as causing disease in humans, but half of the roughly 200 species in this genus use lizards as their vertebrate hosts, and many of these species can be found in lizards in Panama. These parasites have been the focus of studies on ecology, epidemiology, and behavior, but their taxonomic classifications and patterns of diversification remain unclear, and this has hindered their use as a model for studying disease. The first goal of this study is to resolve the taxonomy of these Panamanian parasites. Malaria parasite species are traditionally classified based on differences in their morphology, but the simple and changing morphology of the Panamanian species has confounded taxonomists for decades. Their taxonomy will be revised by analyzing genetic information using novel species-delimitation methods. The second goal of this study is to clarify the patterns of diversification in the widespread lizard parasite Plasmodium floridense. It is distributed in southern North America, throughout the Caribbean, and in Middle America, but like most malaria parasites, its history of colonization remains unknown. Newly collected samples from Panama will be combined with previously collected samples from across the parasite?s range, and these will be used to elucidate the parasite?s pattern of diversification. The results of this research will be disseminated broadly and used to promote teaching and learning. Curriculum materials will be developed in partnership with the Gottesman Center at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) to be used in New York City high school biology classrooms. Lectures and laboratory activities will also be developed as part of the Science Research Mentoring Program at the AMNH. Both will introduce urban high school students to the vast diversity of parasite species from across the tree of life. Finally, results of this research will be posted over several entries on two blogs, each of which is well established and has a wide readership, to facilitate the dissemination of the research to the general public.