Collaborative Research: Not so Fast - Historical biogeography of freshwater fishes in Central America and the Greater Antilles

中美洲/大安的列斯群岛地区，包括波多黎各，拥有世界上最复杂的地质史之一，在过去的7000万年里，有灭绝的和现在的陆桥、漂流的岛链和许多可移动的部分。该地区有500多种淡水鱼，可以让我们了解这一复杂的历史，因为这些鱼通常局限于那些移动的陆地上的淡水栖息地(即它们只能在物理上相连的地区之间移动)。因此，淡水鱼的历史有助于揭示目前构成中美洲陆桥和大安的列斯群岛的岛屿和大陆的复杂历史。该项目将帮助研究人员更好地了解加勒比海和太平洋分离的影响，以及通过现在的中美洲以及可能通过早期的陆桥连接北美和南美洲的影响。研究人员将更好地了解独特的历史事件如何导致物种大规模多样化或大规模灭绝，以及扩散走廊的形成如何退化生物地方主义。研究人员将与当地加勒比海和拉丁美洲的同事以及他们自己实验室的学生成员合作，利用这些进化、分类学和地理知识来确定这些鲜为人知、可能受到威胁的鱼类物种的保护状况。地方和国家政府将利用保护状况来优先考虑保护行动，以增加社会效益。在这项研究中，研究人员将收集该地区的淡水鱼标本，以便为博物馆获取DNA和形态标本。将使用应用于数百个物种的下一代测序方法来评估系统发育关系。这些分析将包括树种估计、分化日期估计和历史生物地理分析。这一综合分析将确定导致目前多样性格局的关系和历史进程。结果将通过科学出版物、数据库和生命物种百科全书页面分发。数以千计的博物馆标本、下一代基因组标记以及新开发的系统发育和生物地理程序将作为这项工作的产品提供。

The Central America/Greater Antilles region, including Puerto Rico, has one of the most complex geological histories in the world, with extinct and current landbridges, drifting island chains and many moving parts over the last 70 million years. With over 500 species of freshwater fishes,this region can inform us about this complicated history because the fish are typically restricted to freshwater habitats on those moving landmasses (i.e., they can only move among areas that are physically connected). Thus, the history of freshwater fishes can help reveal the complex history of the islands and landmasses that currently make up the Central American landbridge and the Greater Antillean islands. This project will help researchers better understand the impact of the separation of the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean and the connection of North and South America by what is now Central America and potentially by earlier landbridges. Researchers will gain a better understanding of how unique historical events can result in mass species diversification or mass extinction, and how the formation of dispersal corridors can degrade biotic provincialism. Working with local Caribbean and Latin American colleagues as well as student members of their own labs, researchers will use this evolutionary, taxonomic and geographic knowledge to determine the conservation status of these poorly understood and potentially threatened lineages of fish species. The conservation status will be used by local and national governments to prioritize conservation actions for added societal benefit.In this study, researchers will collect specimens of the regions freshwater fishes in order to obtain DNA and morphological specimens for museums. Phylogenetic relationships will be estimated using a next-generation sequencing approach applied to several hundred species. These analyses will include species tree estimation, divergence date estimations and historical biogeographical analyses. This synthetic analysis will determine the relationships and historical processes leading to present patterns of diversity. The results will be distributed through scientific publications, databases and Encyclopedia of Life species pages. Thousands of museum specimens, next-generation genomic markers, and newly developed phylogenetic and biogeographic programs will be made available as the products of this work.