DISSERTATION RESEACH: Does phenotypic evidence support ecological speciation in western long-eared Myotis bats?

物种是如何形成的是进化生物学的一个中心问题。物种形成的一个过程被称为生态物种形成，当不同的环境促进地理分布广泛的物种的遗传多样性时，就会发生这种情况。在自然广泛分布的生物体（如蝙蝠）中研究和模拟这一过程特别有用。这个项目将探讨西部长耳鼠耳蝠的密切相关的物种之间的差异。这项工作的一个新方面将是开发一个分析框架，测试表型和基因型之间的相关性，同时控制环境变化。这一分析管道将向公众开放，并可用于测试各种不同生物体中生态物种形成的预测。这项工作的结果也将对蝙蝠保护工作产生重要的实际影响。为了将这项研究的发现传达给更广泛的受众，将开发一个在线互动博物馆，重点关注鼠耳蝠蝙蝠物种形成的克里思和模式。本研究将通过共同分析基因组、形态学和环境数据，确定北美西部长耳鼠耳蝠生态物种形成的表型证据。先前的研究结果表明，这些物种遵循一种可能由环境变化促进的物种形成与基因流动模式。因此，假设这些蝙蝠物种之间的形态分化与基因流模式和环境变化的分歧将进行测试。具体而言，颅齿的形状和大小的变化，这些物种在不同的环境将进行检查，使用几何形态测量方法。一种新的方法，占遗传和环境的共变的形态差异内和物种之间将被开发。这个框架将使用几何形态测量加上环境生态位和基因组扫描分析，以确定离群基因座，可能已经演变的分歧选择。最后，这个新的框架将被应用于预测西方长耳蝙蝠之间的形态变异和区分物种之间的表型收敛和基因流。这种综合的方法将使我们能够从表型，遗传和环境的角度来了解鼠耳蝠蝙蝠的物种形成的克里思和模式。

How species are formed is a central question in evolutionary biology. One process involved in species formation is known as ecological speciation, which occurs when different environments promote genetic diversification in a geographically widespread species. It is particularly useful to investigate and model this process in organisms that naturally disperse widely, such as bats. This project will explore differences within and among closely related species of the western long-eared Myotis bats. A novel aspect of this work will be the development of an analytical framework that tests for correlations between phenotypes and genotypes while controlling for environmental variation. This analytical pipeline will be made publicly available, and may be used to test the predictions of ecological speciation in a variety of different organisms. Results from this work will also have important practical implications to bat conservation efforts. To communicate findings from this research to a broader audience, an online interactive museum focused on the tempo and mode of speciation of Myotis bats will be developed. This research will identify phenotypic evidence of ecological speciation in western long-eared Myotis bats of North America by co-analyzing genomic, morphological, and environmental data. Previous findings demonstrate that these species follow a pattern of speciation-with-gene-flow that might have been promoted by environmental changes. Therefore the hypothesis that morphological differentiation among these bat species is associated with both divergence-with-gene-flow patterns and environmental variation will be tested. Specifically, craniodental shape and size variation among these species across different environments will be examined, using geometric morphometric approaches. A novel approach that accounts for both genetic and environmental covariation on morphometric differences within and among species will be developed. This framework will use geometric morphometrics coupled with environmental niche and genomic scan analyses to identify outlier loci that may have evolved under divergent selection. Finally, this new framework will be applied to predict morphometric variation among the western long-eared bats and differentiate between phenotypic convergence and gene flow among species. This integrative approach will allow us to understand the tempo and mode of speciation of Myotis bats from a phenotypic, genetic and environmental perspective.