Understanding the ecological and macroevolutionary drivers of large-scale biodiversity patterns

了解大规模生物多样性模式的生态和宏观进化驱动因素

• 批准号: RGPIN-2022-05062
• 负责人: Mahler, DLuke
• 金额: $ 3.42万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=751449
• 关键词: Understanding; ecological; macroevolutionary; drivers; large

My research seeks to understand how ecological and evolutionary factors combine to generate and organize biodiversity over large spatial and temporal scales. We merge phylogenetic, morphometric, ecological, and statistical approaches to test hypotheses about the emergence of biological patterns within clades, within communities, and across geographic landscapes. Work in our lab is focused primarily on detailed empirical study of a macroevolutionary "natural experiment": repeated adaptive radiations of neotropical Anolis lizards (i.e., "anoles"). These lizards provide a unique system for studying the relationship between ecology, geography, and macroevolution because they have diversified repeatedly in both similar and different ecological and biogeographic settings throughout the New World tropics. Over the next several years, research in our lab will address the following questions. How does predation shape adaptive radiations? Competition has long been understood to fuel the process of adaptive radiation, but the role of predation has been much less clear. We will combine field study of predation and competition, laboratory rearing study of life history, and phylogenetic comparative methods to understand how predation and competition interact to shape macroevolutionary patterns of phenotypic diversity. How does the multidimensional niche evolve over macroevolutionary time? Despite the importance of the niche in theoretical models of adaptive radiation, we poorly understand how niche width and niche dimensionality evolve over phylogenetic timescales. Using island radiations that vary in age and maturity, we will use a space-for-time approach to understand how the principal features of the niche evolve during the evolutionary assembly of faunas. Do natural gradients shape Anthropocene community assembly? The impact of habitat conversion on natural ecological communities can vary for reasons that are poorly understood. One possible explanation is that natural ecological gradients may mediate such impacts, resulting in different community responses at different locations along a gradient. We will examine how natural and anthropogenic forces combine to determine the rules of community reassembly by examining how lizard communities are affected by deforestation across replicated ecological gradients on several Caribbean islands. Together, this research will help illuminate the ecological and evolutionary origins of large-scale biodiversity patterns. Insights from this work can help guide efforts to preserve such biodiversity in the face of future anthropogenic change.

我的研究旨在了解生态和进化因素如何结合在大空间和时间尺度上产生和组织生物多样性。我们将系统发育学、形态计量学、生态学和统计学方法结合起来，以检验关于进化枝、群落和地理景观中生物模式出现的假设。我们实验室的工作主要集中在宏观进化“自然实验”的详细实证研究上：新热带蜥蜥（即“蜥蜥”）的重复适应性辐射。这些蜥蜴为研究生态学、地理学和宏观进化之间的关系提供了一个独特的系统，因为它们在整个新世界热带地区相似和不同的生态和生物地理环境中反复多样化。在接下来的几年里，我们实验室的研究将解决以下问题。捕食是如何形成适应性辐射的？长期以来，人们一直认为竞争促进了适应性辐射的过程，但捕食的作用却不太清楚。我们将结合捕食和竞争的实地研究、生活史的实验室饲养研究和系统发育比较方法来了解捕食和竞争如何相互作用，形成表型多样性的宏观进化模式。多维生态位是如何在宏观进化过程中进化的？尽管生态位在适应性辐射的理论模型中很重要，但我们对生态位宽度和生态位维度在系统发育时间尺度上的演变知之甚少。利用年龄和成熟度不同的岛屿辐射，我们将使用时空的方法来理解在动物群进化聚集过程中生态位的主要特征是如何演变的。自然梯度是否塑造了人类世的群落组合？生境转换对自然生态群落的影响可能因人们知之甚少的原因而有所不同。一种可能的解释是，自然生态梯度可能调节这种影响，导致沿梯度不同位置的不同群落反应。我们将研究自然和人为的力量如何结合起来决定群落重组的规则，通过研究在几个加勒比岛屿上复制的生态梯度上，蜥蜴群落是如何受到森林砍伐的影响的。总之，这项研究将有助于阐明大规模生物多样性模式的生态和进化起源。从这项工作中获得的见解可以帮助指导在面对未来人为变化时保护这种生物多样性的努力。