EAGER: RUI: The genomic architecture of speciation in an avian hybrid zone

这项研究旨在解决不同鸟类的基因组如何对杂交做出反应，以及是什么使它们与众不同。两种形式的西部灌丛鸦，一个发现在沿海加州和其他在美国内陆，有不同的羽毛颜色和不同的法案形状，以适应当地的资源。这项研究将着眼于它们之间的联系领域，以解决目前在进化理论领域激烈争论的两个重要问题：（1）性染色体上的遗传差异是否在保持物种分离方面发挥了巨大的作用;（2）基因组差异是否倾向于在基因组中的少数几个地方积累，或者差异是否在整个基因组中更均匀地分布。为了实现这一目标，研究人员将使用新的方法对塔霍湖附近接触区内外发现的许多个体的基因组的大子集进行测序。尽管物种有时会杂交和交换基因，但了解它们如何保持独特性是进化生物学中一个重要的基本问题，关系到生物多样性是如何产生的以及为什么产生。从保护和管理我国现有的生物多样性财富的角度来看，这也很重要，因为有许多自然和人为介导的重要经济物种之间的杂交案例。这项研究将有助于更好地了解基因组如何对杂交做出反应，以及是什么使物种保持独特。

This study seeks to address how the genomes of different birds respond to hybridization and what keeps them distinct. The two forms of the Western Scrub-Jay, one found in coastal California and the other in the interior United States, have different plumage colors and different bill shapes that are adapted to local resources. This study will look at an area of contact between them to address two important questions that are currently intensely debated in the field of evolutionary theory: (1) whether genetic divergence on the sex chromosomes plays an outsized role in keeping species separate; and (2) whether genomic divergence tends to accumulate in just a few places in the genome, or whether divergence is more evenly spread out throughout the genome. To accomplish this, the researchers will use novel methods for sequencing large subsets of the genomes of many individuals found inside and outside a contact zone near Lake Tahoe. Understanding how species remain distinct despite the fact that they sometimes interbreed and exchange genes is an important basic question in evolutionary biology bearing on how and why biodiversity is generated. It is also important from the standpoint of protecting and managing our country's existing wealth of biodiversity, because there are many natural and human-mediated cases of hybridization between economically important species. This research will lead to a better understanding of how the genome responds to hybridization, and what keeps species distinct.