DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Hybridization and its downstream consequences for biodiversity.

尽管微生物群落在高等生物中的重要性，但人们对自然系统中形成和维持这些群落的过程知之甚少。这些生活在生物体内部和表面的微生物群落可以通过对营养、免疫和其他生理系统的影响强烈地影响宿主的健康。该项目为堪萨斯大学的本科生提供了参与鸟类及其相关微生物群落的前沿生物多样性科学研究的机会，并有机会在地方和国家会议上展示成果和网络。研究结果将传播给当地和美国西南地区的业余观众，在那里，研究通过与地区户外团体合作，如塞拉俱乐部和奥杜邦协会，主办和促进将向公众开放的会谈。全基因组概念将宿主基因组及其相关微生物组的进化联系起来，最初是为珊瑚礁构想的，尽管最近的研究已经在分类学上扩展了这一概念。正如宿主的进化可能影响微生物群落一样，微生物群落的进化也可能影响宿主的进化。尽管先前的研究表明，与宿主环境和宿主遗传学相关的地理因素在塑造生物体内和体表的微生物群落中起着重要作用，但目前还没有强有力的研究解决这些关联在野生生物中的进化问题。杂交带为研究微生物群落及其宿主之间的共同进化提供了一个有趣的背景。这些区域提供了影响持续谱系分化或谱系网状的群体遗传机制的见解；基因流动、遗传漂变和自然选择都可以在密切相关的、地理上重叠的物种的背景下进行研究。这项工作将使用美国西南部两个鸟类杂交区肠道微生物群落的下一代序列数据。该研究将评估鸟类种群遗传过程和观察到的种群结构是否与肠道微生物群落的结构、多样性和选择模式有关。此外，该项目将调查鸟类之间普遍存在的细菌群的选择，这是一个目前尚未研究的主题，尽管它已经在人类个体中进行了研究。这项研究将进一步推动分子生态学关键研究重点的两个组成部分，包括了解物种形成的基因组学，特别是对这个项目来说，了解微生物群落的进化，微生物群落是所有高等分类生物（从植物到脊椎动物）中未被充分研究的“有影响力的乘客”。

Despite the importance of the microbial communities within higher organisms, little is known of the processes shaping the formation and persistence of these communities in natural systems. These microbial communities living in and on an organism can strongly influence host health by effects on nutrition, immunity, and other physiological systems. This project provides opportunities for undergraduate students at the University of Kansas to participate in cutting-edge biodiversity science research on birds and their associated microbial communities, as well as the opportunity to present results and network at local and national conferences. Research results will be disseminated to lay audiences locally and in the U. S, Southwest where the research takes place by collaborating with regional outdoor groups such as the Sierra Club and Audubon Societies to host and promote talks that will be open to the public. The hologenome concept links evolution of the host genome and its associated microbiome and was originally conceived for coral reefs, although recent studies have expanded the idea taxonomically. Just as evolution in a host may affect the microbial community, evolution of microbial communities may also affect evolution of the host. Although previous work suggests a role of the geography related to host environment as well as host genetics in shaping the community of microbes living in and on an organism, currently there are no strong studies addressing the evolution of these associations in wild organisms. Hybrid zones provide an intriguing context to study the coevolution between microbial communities and their hosts. These zones provide insight into population genetic mechanisms affecting continued lineage divergence or lineage reticulation; gene flow, genetic drift, and natural selection may all be studied in the context of closely related, geographically-overlapping species. The proposed work will use next-generation sequence data of intestinal microbial communities across two bird hybrid zones in the U.S. Southwest. The study will assess whether population genetic processes and observed population structure in birds are associated with the structure, diversity, and patterns of selection in microbial communities in their intestine. Additionally, the project will investigate selection among ubiquitous bacterial groups between bird species, a currently unstudied topic, although it has been studied among individuals in humans. The research will further two components of key research priorities in molecular ecology, including understanding genomics of speciation and, specifically to this project, understanding the evolution of microbial communities, the understudied "influential passengers" of all higher taxonomic organisms, from plants to vertebrates.