Collaborative Research: An inclusive phylogeny for the Pseudoxyrhophiine snakes in Madagascar: understanding causes of species diversification

这项研究将研究导致物种在数量、形态和生态上多样化的过程。首先，将产生马达加斯加假木纹蛇的系统发育。这种高度多样化的脊椎动物有130多种，分布在树栖、陆栖、穴居和水生栖息地，以及热带雨林、山林、沼泽、草原和沙漠。利用下一代测序（NGS）技术生成数百个基因，将产生该蛇群的第一个全面的系统发育。其次，系统发育将与形态和生态数据（包括遥感数据和地理信息系统）相结合，在一个计算密集的框架内，揭示物种、生态和形态如何随着时间的推移而共同进化，并检查与适应性辐射相关的过程。该项目还将培养本科生、博士生和一名博士后。研究结果将通过美国自然历史博物馆的《科学公报》、纽约市立大学的电视节目“与最优秀的人一起学习”和其他形式广泛传播给公众。除了揭示复杂的进化过程外，这项研究的结果也将对这类蛇的保护有价值。

This study will examine processes that lead to the diversification of species -- in number, form and ecology. First, a phylogeny of the Madagascar pseudoxyrhophiine snakes will be produced. This highly diverse group of vertebrates, with more than 130 species, occurs in arboreal, terrestrial, fossorial, and aquatic habitats, as well as tropical rainforests, mountain forests, swamps, grasslands and deserts. Using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) techniques to generate hundreds of genes, the first comprehensive phylogeny of this snake group will be produced. Second, the phylogeny will be integrated with morphological and ecological data (including remotely-sensed data and GIS), in a computationally intense framework, to reveal how species, ecology and morphology evolve together over time and to examine the processes associated with adaptive radiations. This project will also train undergraduates, doctoral students, and a postdoctoral researcher. Results will be widely communicated to the public via the American Museum of Natural History's Science Bulletin, CUNY's TV Program "Study with the Best", and other formats. In addition to revealing complex evolutionary processes, results of this research will also have valuable conservation applications for this group of snakes.