NSFDEB-NERC: The evolution of visual systems during major life history transitions in frogs

作为动物的主要感官之一，视觉在生物体生活的几个方面起着重要作用，包括寻找食物，躲避捕食者和寻找配偶。眼睛的功能取决于生物体的生态学和生物学特征，例如特定物种是否是夜行性的，生活在地下，或变形，例如，从蝌蚪到成年青蛙的转变该项目使用青蛙作为物种的模型组，通过整合这些生物的形态学，遗传学和生理学信息来研究视觉的进化。该项目的结果将深入了解视觉系统在新环境挑战的新颖适应性解决方案的演变中所发挥的作用，这是理解整个生命之树物种多样化原因的首要主题。为了实现这些目标，该项目依靠国际合作，从地球仪各地采集青蛙样本。本科研究人员将接受研究培训，并协助产生科学成果。该项目将利用两个主要公共博物馆的外联活动，通过展览和教育电子书向公众传播新发现。该项目整合了形态学、分子和光谱数据，以研究古代和近代青蛙视觉系统的进化。分子进化研究将提供视觉进化的基因组视角，并期望视觉导向的青蛙表现出更高水平的自然选择，基因复制和视觉基因的保留。描述水生蝌蚪和陆生成体物种视觉的生理学和分子基础，将揭示视觉系统在变态过程中如何适应不同的视觉环境。这些广泛的研究将为针对自然历史特征转变的更有针对性的研究提供框架。利用高度多样性的非洲芦苇蛙，该项目将测试明亮颜色的进化是否与视觉系统多样性有关，从而最大限度地提高物种识别能力。最后，该项目将研究如何过渡到地下生活塑造视觉系统的形态和遗传组成部分，并期望眼睛减少伴随着视觉基因的使用或失活减少。该项目采用综合方法，将提供详细和全面的洞察力，跨越生命历史的转变，以解决我们对脊椎动物视觉进化的整体理解的核心差距。

As one of the primary senses in animals, vision plays an important role in several aspects of an organism's life, including finding food, avoiding predators, and seeking mates. How the eye functions depends on the ecological and the biological characteristics of the organism, such as whether particular species are nocturnal, live underground, or metamorphose, e.g., the transition from a tadpole to adult frog. This project uses frogs as a model group of species to investigate the evolution of vision, by integrating information on the morphology, genetics, and physiology of these organisms. Results from the project will provide insight into the role that vision systems play in the evolution of novel, adaptive solutions to new environmental challenges, a topic of primary importance in understanding causes of species diversification throughout the tree of life. To achieve these goals, this project relies on international collaboration to sample frogs from across the globe. Undergraduate researchers will receive research training and aid in producing the scientific results. This project will leverage the outreach of two major public museums to disseminate the new discoveries to the general public via exhibits and educational e-books.This project integrates morphological, molecular, and spectral data to investigate the evolution of vision systems in frogs at both ancient and recent timescales. Molecular evolutionary studies will provide a genomic perspective on vision evolution with the expectation that visually-oriented frogs exhibit greater levels of natural selection, gene duplication, and retention of vision genes. Characterizing the physiology and molecular underpinnings of vision in species with aquatic tadpoles and terrestrial adults will reveal how the visual system adapts to distinct visual environments during metamorphosis. These broad studies will provide a framework for more focused investigations that target transitions in natural history characteristics. Using the hyperdiverse African reed frogs, this project will test whether the evolution of bright coloration is associated with visual system diversity that maximizes species recognition. Finally, this project will investigate how transitions to life below ground have shaped the morphological and genetic components of visual systems with the expectation that eye reduction accompanies a reduction in use or inactivation of vision genes. This project takes an integrative approach that will provide detailed and comprehensive insight into vision evolution across life history transitions to address a central gap in our overall understanding of vertebrate vision evolution.