COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: RoL: The evolution and maintenance of variable species boundaries

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Speciation is the process through which new species are formed and is a fundamental driver of the Earth’s biodiversity. New species are defined by the combination of traits that prevent them from mating with other species. However, these traits are not static – they vary depending on the history of a particular population and across different environments. The researchers will use a combination of field and laboratory-based experiments to identify key traits that define two closely related species and test how those traits vary across space. They will then expand their study to other closely related species to test whether traits that define speciation are predictable across a group of species. The project will test new genome sequencing tools in wild populations, inspiring new areas of research in evolution, behavior, and conservation. It will also contribute to the understanding of how new species arise, how they persist across different environments, and whether comparisons between related species are useful to learn about speciation when applied to a broader group of organisms. Through this project, the researchers will provide critical training to undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral researchers. The researchers will also develop public citizen science resources to help document species diversity across the Colorado Front Range. These resources will improve undergraduate science curriculum and public science education through meaningful scientific experiences.Classic evolutionary theory assumes that species boundaries are fixed differences between species, but barriers between species vary over different temporal, spatial, ecological, and historical contexts. The extent and consequences of this variation on the evolution and maintenance of species boundaries is largely unknown and has not been studied comprehensively in a single system. The proposed research will connect patterns of population level variation to the origin and maintenance of reproductive barriers across a species complex. It will integrate studies of barrier phenotypes (temporal, habitat, behavioral, fertilization, and postzygotic isolation) with patterns of spatial variation in recombination, hybridization, and selection. The researchers will use replicate hybrid zones of North American field crickets to understand variation in reproductive barriers across different scales of biological diversity—within species, between species across multiple independent contact zones of different ages, and across a species complex with overlapping ranges. Key outcomes will be 1) integration of the ecological, behavioral, and genomic context for variation in species barriers, 2) an empirical test of the role of variable reproductive barriers in maintaining species boundaries, 3) a test of the repeatability of the evolution of reproductive barriers across multiple species pairs, and 4) meaningful research experiences for undergraduate non-STEM majors and the public that will increase public engagement with, and appreciation for, nature and science.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.