Uncovering the evolutionary history of Australasian marsupials: combining molecular phylogenetics and ecological inference

揭示澳大利亚有袋动物的进化史：结合分子系统发育学和生态推理

• 批准号: DP0774015
• 负责人: Prof Matthew Phillips
• 金额: $ 21.6万
• 依托单位: The Australian National University
• 依托单位国家: 澳大利亚
• 项目类别: Discovery Projects
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 澳大利亚
• 起止时间: 2007-07-30 至 2010-11-11
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/RGS/Web/Grants/DP0774015
• 关键词: Uncovering; evolutionary; history; Australasian; marsupials

Marsupials are symbolic of the uniqueness of Australia's biological systems and there is widespread public interest in their natural history. Yet we know little of the evolutionary mechanisms that have shaped their biodiversity. This is a critical problem when considered in the context of Australian marsupials having suffered the highest extinction rate of any continental mammal fauna over the past 200 years. This project will make a major contribution to understanding the origins, timescale and ecological nature of Australasian marsupial evolution. In doing so, it will inform conservation strategy, promote Australasian marsupials as a model system for studying faunal coevolution and develop widely applicable bioinformatic tools.

有袋类动物象征着澳大利亚生物系统的独特性，公众对它们的自然历史有着广泛的兴趣。然而，我们对塑造它们生物多样性的进化机制知之甚少。考虑到澳大利亚的有袋类动物在过去200年里遭受了所有大陆哺乳动物动物中最高的灭绝速度，这是一个关键问题。该项目将为理解澳大拉西亚有袋类进化的起源、时间尺度和生态性质做出重大贡献。在这样做的过程中，它将为保护战略提供信息，推动澳大利亚有袋类动物成为研究动物群共同进化的模式系统，并开发广泛适用的生物信息学工具。