DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Riverscape genetics: testing the role of river properties with population-genetic models in Neotropical freshwater fishes

论文研究：河流景观遗传学：用种群遗传模型测试河流特性在新热带淡水鱼类中的作用

• 批准号: 1501301
• 负责人: L. Lacey Knowles
• 金额: $ 2.02万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-04-01 至 2018-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1501301&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Riverscape; genetics; testing

Genetic data can provide a window in the factors that structure and drive divergence among populations. In this study, we will use such data to reveal how current and past landscapes features determine population structure. Such inferences, however, are challenging without methodologies to predict the genetic signature under such conditions. The proposed work will be a step towards addressing this knowledge gap with an application to a freshwater fish biodiversity hotspot, the Atlantic Coastal Rainforest of Brazil. The proposed work will provide critical knowledge about freshwater fishes in this particular ecosystem, as well as be broadly applicable to riverine environments in other world regions. The project provide insights into the properties of rivers that make them critical to conservation efforts because of their impact in population persistence and movement patterns of organisms living in the rivers. The PIs will also collaborate with Brazilian students on this project, promoting international scientific engagement. This research will use computer simulations to generate expected patterns of genetic variation so the impact of specific river properties (e.g., the length of river segments, the number of connecting tributaries, and the flow regime) on movement patterns of an endemic tetra can be discerned. Such a mechanistic understanding will be instrumental to interpreting past studies that have documented differences in genetic variation between different regions. The tests developed here will allow re-evaluation of those prior studies to determine what processes structuring biodiversity might differ among regions. As such, the work will provide a general tool that can advance our understanding of the processes generating biodiversity patterns.

遗传数据可以提供一个了解构成和驱动种群差异的因素的窗口。在本研究中，我们将使用这些数据来揭示当前和过去的景观特征如何决定人口结构。然而，如果没有方法来预测这种条件下的遗传特征，这样的推论就具有挑战性。拟议的工作将通过应用于淡水鱼类生物多样性热点——巴西大西洋沿岸雨林，向解决这一知识差距迈出一步。拟议的工作将提供有关这一特定生态系统中淡水鱼类的关键知识，并广泛适用于世界其他地区的河流环境。该项目提供了对河流特性的深入了解，这些特性使河流对保护工作至关重要，因为它们对河流中的种群持久性和生物体的运动模式产生影响。 PI 还将与巴西学生合作开展该项目，促进国际科学参与。这项研究将使用计算机模拟来生成遗传变异的预期模式，以便可以辨别特定河流特性（例如河流段的长度、连接支流的数量和水流形态）对特有四重奏的运动模式的影响。这种机制上的理解将有助于解释过去的研究，这些研究记录了不同地区之间遗传变异的差异。这里开发的测试将允许重新评估那些先前的研究，以确定哪些构建生物多样性的过程可能因地区而异。因此，这项工作将提供一个通用工具，可以增进我们对产生生物多样性模式的过程的理解。