The role of behaviour in the adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes from Lake Tanganyika.

揭示物种形成的复杂过程和确定决定物种多样性的因素仍然是生物学中最重要和最具挑战性的努力之一。研究以物种丰富度异常高为特征的生物群，可能是理解生物多样性是如何产生和维持的关键。非洲五大湖的慈鱼是这项提案的重点，它们代表了当今已知的最大的脊椎动物适应辐射，数百种特有物种以前所未有的高物种形成率进化。拟议项目的目的是在坦噶尼喀湖大范围适应性辐射的背景下，调查基本行为模式的种间差异所起的作用。更具体地说，我打算评估大量慈鱼物种(包括物种丰富和物种贫乏的谱系)的一致行为特征，特别侧重于探索趋势，并将这些行为数据与现有的全基因组和脑转录组序列以及各自物种的现有生态形态信息结合起来。这种彻底的方法建立在东道国实验室对研究系统和那里建立的资源的专门知识以及我在研究淡水鱼一致行为特征方面的个人经验的基础上。这个项目将提供首次深入的洞察，了解行为如何有助于物种的多样化倾向。

The unravelling of the complex process of speciation and the identification of factors that determine species diversity remains one of the most important and challenging endeavors in biology. To study groups of organisms that are characterized by an exceptionally high species-richness could be key to the understanding of how organismal diversity is generated and maintained. The cichlid fishes in the African Great Lakes, which are in the focus of this proposal, represent the largest vertebrate adaptive radiations known today, with hundreds of endemic species having evolved with unparalleled high speciation rates. The aim of the proposed project is to investigate the role of inter-specific variation in basic behavioural patterns in the context of the massive adaptive radiation of cichlids in Lake Tanganyika. More specifically, I intend to assess consistent behavioural traits, with a particular focus on the exploration tendency, of a large number of cichlid species (comprising species-rich and species-poor lineages) and to integrate this behavioural data with available whole-genome and brain transcriptome sequences as well as with existing eco-morphological information of the respective species. This thorough approach builds up on the host lab’s expertise with the study system and the resources that have been established there as well as on my own experience in the study of consistent behavioural traits in freshwater fishes. This project will provide first in-depth insights into how behaviour contributes to the species’ propensity to diversify.