DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Why species delimitation matters: Cryptic diversity, complete species-level phylogeny, and Andean diversification of an American marsupial clade

论文研究：为什么物种界定很重要：美国有袋动物进化枝的隐秘多样性、完整的物种级系统发育和安第斯多样化

• 批准号: 1311163
• 负责人: Sharon Jansa
• 金额: $ 1.96万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-06-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1311163&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Why; species; delimitation

The Neotropics is one of the most biodiverse regions of the world. However, understanding the historical processes underlying this diversity is a challenging task due in part to the complex geographic and climatological history of this region. For mammals, this task is further hindered by our lack of fundamental knowledge about biodiversity, such as the number of species occurring in this area, their distribution, and how they are related to each other. This is particularly true for a group of small opossums (Thylamyini), which are broadly distributed throughout the Neotropics but are often morphologically indistinguishable from each other. There are 37 currently recognized species of Thylamyini, but preliminary analyses suggest that species diversity may be nearly double that. This project aims to discover the true diversity of this ecologically important group of mammals using multiple nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences as well as morphology. This revised view of mammalian diversity will have profound implications for our understanding of diversification in the Neotropics and will provide the basis for much needed conservation strategies in this time of global extinction. In addition, the proposed outreach and educational activities will continue to strengthen developing collaborations between US and Colombian institutions of higher education.

新热带地区是世界上生物多样性最丰富的地区之一。然而，了解这种多样性背后的历史过程是一项具有挑战性的任务，部分原因是该地区复杂的地理和气候历史。对于哺乳动物来说，由于我们缺乏关于生物多样性的基本知识，例如该地区出现的物种数量、它们的分布以及它们之间的相互关系，这一任务进一步受到阻碍。对于一群小负鼠(Thylamyini)来说尤其如此，它们广泛分布于整个新热带地区，但在形态上往往彼此难以区分。目前已知的袋鼠有37种，但初步分析表明，物种多样性可能是这个数字的近两倍。该项目旨在利用多个核和线粒体DNA序列以及形态来发现这一具有生态重要性的哺乳动物群体的真正多样性。这一关于哺乳动物多样性的修订观点将对我们理解新热带地区的多样性产生深远的影响，并将为在这个全球灭绝的时代制定急需的保护战略提供基础。此外，拟议的外展和教育活动将继续加强美国和哥伦比亚高等教育机构之间发展中的合作。