Resolving issues of species, phylogeny, and radiation in a diverse group of Old World tropical mammals

这个项目将提高我们的多样性和进化关系的一个鲜为人知的哺乳动物群体，旧世界鼩的亚科Crocidurinae的理解。这些鼩 鼱种类繁多，目前已确认的约有240种，它们是小型哺乳动物群落中非常常见的成员，特别是在中非和东南亚。然而，旧大陆鼩的多样性的知识是非常有限的，部分原因是他们的保守形态。因此，该项目强调使用来自基因组独立进化区域的DNA序列来划分物种并推断物种之间的关系。估计的关系，然后将被用来测试有关这种多样性的起源假设，以及它与非洲大陆的低地热带或山地地区的连接。该项目提供了对整个旧世界的鼩的多样性和进化和生态过程，产生了这种多样性的见解。更一般地说，我们对这些过程的理解对社会保护生物多样性的能力以及我们对塑造物种的进化力量的理解具有重要意义。该补助金为博士后研究人员和本科生提供培训，促进分子和实地生物学家之间的合作，并通过博物馆展览和项目网站促进公众对生物多样性科学的了解。

This project will improve our understanding of the diversity and evolutionary relationships in a poorly known group of mammals, Old World shrews of the subfamily Crocidurinae. These shrews are diverse, with approximately 240 species currently recognized, and they are very common members of small mammal communities, especially in central Africa and Southeast Asia. However, knowledge of Old World shrew diversity is very limited, in part due to their conservative morphology. This project therefore emphasizes the use of DNA sequences from independently evolving regions of the genome to delimit species and infer relationships among species. Estimated relationships will then be used to test hypotheses regarding the origins of this diversity, and its connection with lowland tropical or montane areas of the African continent.This project provides insights on the diversity of shrews across the Old World and the evolutionary and ecological processes that have generated this diversity. More generally, our understanding of these processes has important implications for society's ability to preserve biodiversity and our understanding of the evolutionary forces that have shaped species. This grant provides training for a post-doctoral researcher and undergraduate students, facilitates collaboration among molecular and field biologists, and promotes public understanding of biodiversity science through museum exhibits and project websites.