DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Exploring species formation in southern Africa: A comparative approach using broadly distributed and distantly related squamate reptiles.

新物种如何形成是进化生物学的中心问题。科学家们努力了解在不同的自然栖息地促进遗传和生物变异的自然过程如何导致新物种的形成。当地的气候和地理条件是这个问题的重要组成部分，经常与物种亚群(即种群)相互作用，引导它们沿着独立的进化道路前进。南部非洲拥有复杂的地质景观，含有几乎与地球上的S组一样古老的岩石露头。与北半球的温带地区不同，南部非洲的气候在其历史的大部分时间里一直是温暖和干燥的。多变的地形和稳定的气候相结合，产生了丰富的独特栖息地和微生境，促进了动植物生命的多样性。该项目重点关注三种原产于南部非洲的适应干旱的岩栖蜥蜴物种，尽管这些模式很可能与其他生态受限的非爬行动物物种相媲美。研究人员将探索物种特定的生态需求、史前气候历史和地质学是否会在这些当代、共同分布和生态受限的蜥蜴物种和种群之间产生类似的遗传和生物分化模式。我们将能够通过对多种非模式生物的完整地理分布进行比较，来测试种群连通性和多样性方面的遗传障碍的强度。将全基因组数据与传统使用的形态特征数据和史前气候数据相结合，将使一种以前从未应用于南部非洲独特野生动物的综合和革命性方法成为可能。更广泛的影响包括通过指导有前途的本科生进行教育推广，其中一些人来自STEM学科中代表性不足的群体，以及参与当地和地区性科学博览会项目。该项目包括开发基因组生物信息学方面的专业知识，然后将这些专业知识传递给密西西比大学生物系的国际研究团队。成果的传播将通过在开放获取的期刊上发表同行评议的出版物、在科学会议上发表报告以及公开所有数据来进行。

How new species form is a central question of evolutionary biology. Scientists strive to understand how the natural processes that promote genetic and biological variation in diverse, natural habitats lead to new species formation. Local climate and geographic conditions are important components of this question, which often interact with species subsets (i.e., populations), leading them down independent evolutionary paths. Southern Africa has a geologically complex landscape, containing rock outcrops nearly as ancient as the Earth?s formation. Unlike temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, the climate of southern Africa has been predominantly warm and dry over most of its history. The combination of varied terrain and stable climate has produced an abundance of distinct habitats and microhabitats that promote diversity in both plant and animal life. This project focuses on three arid-adapted, rock-dwelling lizard species native to southern Africa, although these patterns will likely be comparable to other ecologically restricted, non-reptilian species. The investigators will explore whether species-specific ecological requirements, prehistoric climate history, and geology produce similar patterns of genetic and biological differentiation among these contemporary, co-distributed, and ecologically restricted lizards species and populations. We will be able to test the strength of genetic barriers on population connectivity and diversification by making comparisons over the complete geographic distributions of multiple, non-model organisms. The integration of genome-wide data with traditionally-used morphological trait data and prehistoric climate data will allow an integrative and revolutionary approach that has never before been applied to southern Africa's unique wildlife. Broader impacts include educational outreach via mentoring promising undergraduates, some of whom have been from underrepresented groups in STEM disciplines, and participating in local and regional science fair programs. This project includes developing expertise in genomic bioinformatics, which will then be passed on to the international research team in The University of Mississippi Biology Department. Dissemination of results will occur through peer-reviewed publication in open-access journals, presentations at scientific meetings, and all data will be made publicly available.