NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2019: Tempo and mode in the abyss: evolution following colonization of the deep sea

本行动资助NSF 2019年度生物学博士后研究奖学金，利用生物馆藏进行研究。该奖学金支持研究和培训将以创新的方式利用生物收集的研究员。鱼类多次从地球上大多数海洋生物生活的浅水栖息地进入深海。长期以来，人们一直认为，在深海（定义为200米以下）寒冷而黑暗的环境中，进化进行得很慢。然而，与这一观点相矛盾的是，许多深海科在物种和体型上有着惊人的多样性。通过将浅海和深海鱼类的家族历史与鱼类标本的三维扫描相结合，研究人员将了解深海物种相对于浅海近亲的进化速度有多快。这个项目有可能改变我们对世界海洋生物多样性形成的理解。该项目将整合多种数据类型，包括时间校准的分子系统发育、过去海洋条件的古海洋学代理数据，以及保存鱼类标本的三维扫描。第一个目标是重建所有鳍鱼的大系统发育的祖先深度和栖息地类型。这将使研究员能够确定所有已知的向深海过渡的数量和时间，以及可能有利于这种过渡的条件，如生活习惯或海洋条件。对鱼类的大规模分析将与三个不同年龄的重点小组的详细调查相结合，这些小组包括浅层和深层成员（蜥蜴鱼、琵琶鱼和蜗牛鱼）。该研究员将收集3-D微型计算机断层扫描，以分析深海转变后体型演变的速度和方向。为了实现这一目标，我们将利用前所未有的分类采样来构建琵琶鱼的新系统发育。该项目将主要利用华盛顿大学伯克博物馆的标本和组织，以及星期五港实验室的扫描技术。该研究员将获得使用现代技术和方法在系统发育框架中研究形态进化的培训。此外，3d扫描将公开，并将用于K-12，本科和公共宣传教育材料。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2019, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will utilize biological collections in innovative ways. Fish entered the deep sea many times from shallow habitats, where most marine life on Earth lives. It has long been thought that evolution proceeds slowly in the cold and dark environment of the deep sea (defined as below 200 meters). In conflict with this view, however, many deep-sea families have a surprising diversity of species and body forms. By combining a family history of shallow and deep fish lineages with 3-D scans of fish specimens, the fellow will understand how quickly deep-sea forms evolved relative to the pace of evolution in their shallow relatives. This project has the potential to transform our understanding of the formation of biodiversity in the world's oceans. The project will integrate diverse data types including time-calibrated molecular phylogenies, palaeoceanographic proxy data for past oceanic conditions, and 3-D scans of preserved fish specimens. The first objective is to reconstruct ancestral depth and habitat types on a large phylogeny of all ray-finned fishes. This will allow the fellow to identify the number and timing of all known transitions to the deep sea, as well as possible conditions that favor such transitions such as life habits or oceanographic conditions. Broad-scale analyses across fishes will be paired with detailed investigations within three focal groups of varying ages with both shallow and deep members (lizardfishes, anglerfishes, and snailfishes). The fellow will collect 3-D microcomputed tomography scans to analyze the rate and direction of body shape evolution following deep-sea transition. Towards this goal, a new phylogeny of the anglerfishes (Lophiiformes) will be constructed with unprecedented taxonomic sampling. This project will primarily utilize specimens and tissues housed at the Burke Museum at the University of Washington, as well as scanning technology housed at Friday Harbor Laboratories. The fellow will gain training in the use of modern technology and approaches for studying the evolution of morphology in a phylogenetic framework. In addition, the 3-D scans will become publicly available, and will be used in K-12, undergraduate, and public outreach educational materials.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.