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

该项目将调查影响鱼类体型多样性演变的因素，这些体型包括球状河豚和细长的意大利面鳗鱼。实验研究和机械模型揭示了特定的身体形状如何使鱼类的游动和摄食能力最大化，以应对捕食者的存在或栖息地和食物的可获得性等生态因素，或对水温和盐度等环境条件的反应。然而，关于这些生态和环境因素如何相互作用来解释鱼类在进化时间尺度上的身体形状，人们知之甚少。这项研究将使用将从大约7,500种鱼类产生的身体形状多样性的数据集来测试硬骨鱼身体形态进化的生态、环境和功能驱动因素的假设。该项目还将有助于将几个自然历史博物馆的鱼类收藏品数字化，使公众可以免费获得收集的信息。大约40名本科生将接受基础研究技能培训，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团体研究项目。除了阐明生物多样性的机制，特别是独立的鱼类谱系进化出相似的身体形状的趋同进化过程外，这项研究还将提供识别鱼类功能类群的基础，用于评估水生生态系统的健康。本研究将使用系统发育比较方法重建生态变化和生物创新的历史及其对硬骨鱼形状多样性趋势的影响。身体形状，包括对游泳和捕食能力至关重要的区域，将使用几何形态测量和侧视和背视的线性测量，从大约20,000个硬骨标本中估计出来。所产生的硬骨生态空间将为探索异常适应性辐射的性质提供背景，例如非洲裂谷湖慈济鱼。将从科学文献和博物馆记录中收集关于生物、环境、生态和功能特征的大型数据库。形态趋同、新颖性，以及与之相关的生态、环境和功能因素，将通过在强大的系统发育框架下使用Ornstein-Uhlenbeck模型的自适应景观方法来确定。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公羊进食和体尾推进，以难以捉摸的小猎物为食，或者生活在不那么复杂、高流量、低盐度或高溶氧含量的环境中。

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.