Collaborative Research: Phylogenetic Systematics and the Evolution of Reproductive Innovation in an Adaptive Radiation of Limnonectes Fanged Frogs

当一个物种到达一个无人居住的地区，如一个新形成的岛屿，有一个机会，为单一的殖民者辐射成大量的物种，利用大量的，否则无人居住的生态位。这些所谓的“适应辐射”对进化生物学家有着深刻的兴趣，因为它们经常戏剧性地描述进化过程中一些更重要的特征，包括物种的快速多样化，复杂适应性状的进化，以及最近衍生的物种避免相互竞争的机制-以及杂交。特征良好的适应性辐射相对罕见，一旦它们成为研究的模型系统，往往会被有机体生物学家深入研究。经典的适应性辐射的例子包括达尔文的雀，夏威夷银剑植物联盟，以及东非五大湖特有的慈鲷鱼辐射。该项目将描述一种新发现的涉及东南亚青蛙的适应性辐射，同时允许对世界上一个未充分研究的地区的生物多样性进行详细研究。 研究人员将促进代表性不足的少数民族，特别是学生和早期职业研究人员的STEM参与。该奖项是由国际科学与工程办公室共同资助的，因为它将促进跨国界的数据共享和数据互操作性。这项研究将详细描述一种尚未得到充分重视的假定适应性辐射的多样化历史，即印度尼西亚苏拉威西岛和邻近的菲律宾群岛的Limnonectes尖牙蛙。这个组合约有40个物种（其中大多数尚未正式命名），表现出许多通常表征适应性辐射的特征。例如，Limnonectes在成年体型上表现出超过350倍的变化，其谱系大小从2克到超过700克不等，并且有许多独立的小型，中型，大型和巨型形式的衍生物。六个或更多的同域物种的社区发生在整个苏拉威西岛和菲律宾，这些物种的组合似乎分区微生境，表现出与微生境专业化的表型，并在生殖模式显着不同。本研究将首先使用外显子组捕获下一代测序方法建立该组合的系统发育框架。在这一背景下，它将提供身体大小的进化分析，测试表型性状（形态和生理）与微生境专业化之间的相关性，详细描述物种的物种繁殖多样性的例子，这组，并提供发声行为多样性的分析。这项研究将充分表征这种辐射的生态驱动因素，以及与东南亚岛屿组合显着多样化相关的形态，生理和生活史特征。这个项目将扩大我们的知识呼吸，生物体如何利用新的生态机会多样化，以及如何适应密切相关的物种之间的巨大生理差异可以进化得非常快，由于竞争。

When a species reaches an unoccupied area such as a newly formed island, there is an opportunity for that single colonizer to radiate into a large number of species that exploit the multitude of otherwise unoccupied niches. These so-called 'adaptive radiations' are of profound interest to evolutionary biologists because they often dramatically exemplify some of the more important features of the evolutionary process, including rapid diversification of species, the evolution of complex adaptive traits, and the mechanisms by which recently derived species avoid competition with one another - as well as hybridization. Well-characterized adaptive radiations are relatively rare, and tend to be studied intensively by organismal biologists once they have become established as model systems for study. Examples of classical adaptive radiations include Darwin's Finches, the Hawaiian Silversword alliance of plants, and the cichlid fish radiation endemic to the East African Great Lakes. This project will characterize a newly discovered adaptive radiation involving Southeast Asian frogs, while allowing for a detailed study of biological diversification in an understudied region of the world. The researchers will promote STEM engagement of underrepresented minorities, especially students and early-career researchers. This award is cofunded by the Office of International Science and Engineering because it will advance data sharing and data interoperability across national boundaries.This research will characterize in detail the diversification history of an as yet underappreciated putative adaptive radiation the Limnonectes fanged frogs of the large Indonesian island of Sulawesi and the adjacent Philippines Archipelago. This assemblage of ~40 species (most of which have not yet been formally named) exhibits many of the features that often characterize adaptive radiations. For example, Limnonectes exhibit more than 350-fold variation in adult body size, with lineages ranging in size from 2 grams to more than 700 grams, and many independent derivations of small, medium, large, and giant forms. Communities of six or more sympatric species occur throughout Sulawesi and the Philippines, and these species assemblages appear to partition microhabitats, exhibit phenotypes that correlate with microhabitat specializations, and vary dramatically in reproductive mode. This study will first establish a phylogenetic framework for this assemblage using an exome-capture Next-Generation Sequencing approach. In the context of this phylogeny, it will then provide analyses of body size evolution, test for correlations between phenotypic traits (both morphological and physiological) with microhabitat specializations, describe in detail the species by species reproductive diversity exemplified by this group, and provide an analysis of vocalization behavioral diversity. This research will be fully characterizing ecological drivers of this radiation, as well as the morphological, physiological, and life history features associated with the assemblage's remarkable diversification in insular Southeast Asia. This project will expand our breath of knowledge on how organisms take advantage of new ecological opportunities to diversify, and how adaptations of vast physiological differences between closely related species can evolve very quickly due to competition.