Evolutionary and Conservation Genetics of Reptiles and Polar Bears

用分子方法来理解物种的进化已经有了显著的发现。例如，亲缘关系较近的野生物种的雌性常常并排在一起，而不是与亲缘关系较远的同一物种的雌性广泛混合。在墨西哥的下加利福尼亚，大多数动物物种在半岛中部显示出邻近血统的模式。它们并排生活了300多万年，没有混合，在某些情况下，时间更长。这项研究的一个关键焦点是确定原因。有一种假说认为，两种血统没有混合，是因为它们的能量产生酶在混合时不能有效地工作。另一种可能是女性保护她们的家庭不受入侵者的侵害，这可能被称为姐妹情谊假说。一套以树蜥蜴为模型动物的实验将被用来评估这些机制在维持并排母系谱系模式中所起的相对作用，如果有的话。这些分析不仅对理解物种如何进化有意义，而且对保护和管理措施也有意义，特别是当它们与物种易位有关时。

Molecular approaches to understanding the evolution of species have led to remarkable discoveries. For example, closely related females of wild species are often side-by-side rather than being broadly mixed with more distantly related females of the same species. In Baja California, Mexico, most species of animals show a pattern of neighbouring lineages on the middle of the peninsula. These have lived side-by-side for more than 3 million years without mixing and in some cases for a much longer period of time. A key focus of this research is to determine why. One hypothesis suggests that the lineages do not mix because their energy-producing enzymes do not work efficiently when they are mixed. Another possibility is that females protect their families against intruders, perhaps termed as the sisterhood hypothesis. A suite of experiments using tree lizards as model animals will be used to evaluate the relative roles played by each of these mechanisms in maintaining the pattern of side-by-side maternal lineages, if any. The analyses have implications for not only understanding how species evolve, but also for conservation and management initiatives, especially as they relate to species translocations.