Disentangling the ecological drivers of body form diversity in teleost fish species

这个项目将调查影响鱼类体型壮观多样性演变的因素，从球形河豚到细长的意大利面鳗鱼。实验研究和机械模型揭示了某些身体形状如何最大限度地提高鱼类的游泳和进食能力，以响应生态因素，如捕食者的存在或栖息地和食物供应，或响应环境条件，如水温和盐度。然而，很少有人知道这些生态和环境因素如何相互作用，以解释鱼类的身体形状在进化的时间尺度。 这项研究将使用从大约7,500种鱼类中产生的体型多样性数据集来测试硬骨鱼体型进化的生态，环境和功能驱动因素的假设。 该项目还将帮助几个自然历史博物馆收集鱼类，使公众可以免费获得收集到的信息。大约40名本科生将接受基础研究技能的培训，并将根据他们帮助收集的数据共同设计和执行一个雄心勃勃的小组研究项目。除了阐明生命多样化的机制，特别是趋同进化过程，即独立的鱼类谱系进化出相似的体型，这项研究将为识别鱼类的功能群提供基础，本研究将采用系统发育比较的方法来重建生态变迁和生物创新的历史，以及它们对硬骨鱼形状多样性趋势的影响。体型，包括游泳和猎物捕获性能至关重要的区域，将估计从大约20,000硬骨鱼标本使用几何形态测量和线性测量的侧面和背面的意见。所产生的硬骨鱼生态形态空间将为探索特殊适应性辐射的性质提供背景，例如非洲裂谷湖慈鲷。将从科学文献和博物馆记录中收集有关生物、环境、生态和功能特征的大型数据库。形态收敛，新奇，以及与之相关的生态，环境和功能因素，将确定使用自适应景观的方法，使用Ornstein-Uhlenbeck模型在一个强大的系统发育框架。该项目将测试基于生物力学和生理模型的预测，以及实验证据，即最流线型的形状将在硬骨鱼中进化，这些硬骨鱼更多地依赖于公羊喂养和体尾推进，以小型难以捉摸的猎物为食，或者生活在不太复杂的环境中，具有高流量，低盐度或高溶解氧含量。

This project will investigate the factors that have influenced the evolution of the spectacular diversity of fish body shapes, which range from globular pufferfishes to thin elongated spaghetti eels. Experimental studies and mechanical models have revealed how certain body shapes maximize swimming and feeding ability of the fish, in response to ecological factors such as predator presence or habitat and food availability, or in response to environment conditions such as water temperature and salinity. However, very little is known about how these ecological and environmental factors interact to explain fish body shape over evolutionary time-scales. This research will test hypotheses of the ecological, environmental and functional drivers of body form evolution across teleost fishes using a dataset of body shape diversity that will be generated from approximately 7,500 fish species. The project also will help to digitize the fish collections of several natural history museums making the information collected freely available to the public. Approximately 40 undergraduate students will receive training in fundamental research skills and will work together to design and execute an ambitious group research project based on the data they help to collect. Beyond illuminating the mechanisms by which life diversifies, in particular the process of convergent evolution whereby independent fish lineages have evolved similar body shapes, this study will provide the basis for identifying functional groups of fish, which are used for assessing aquatic ecosystem health.This research will use a phylogenetic comparative approach to reconstruct the history of ecological shifts and biological innovations and their impact on trends in teleost shape diversity. Body-shape, including regions vital for swimming and prey-capture performance, will be estimated from approximately 20,000 teleost specimens using geometric morphometrics and linear measurements on lateral and dorsal views. The teleost ecomorphospace generated will provide the context for exploring the nature of exceptional adaptive radiations, such as the African rift lake cichlids. Large databases of biological, environmental and ecological and functional traits will be assembled from the scientific literature and museum records. Morphological convergence, novelty, and the ecological, environmental and functional factors associated with them, will be identified using an adaptive landscape approach using Ornstein-Uhlenbeck models in a robust phylogenetic framework. The project will test predictions based on biomechanical and physiological models as well as experimental evidence that the most streamlined shapes will evolve in teleosts that rely more on ram feeding and body-caudal propulsion, feed on small elusive prey, or live in environments that are less complex, have high flow, low salinity, or high dissolved oxygen contents.