Dissertation Research: Biogeography and Evolutionary Genetics of Stenocereus (Cactaceae)

研究生Cornejo建议使用蛋白质电泳方法研究热带柱状仙人掌属Stenocereus，以重建物种水平的进化关系。果蝇属的苍蝇和酵母菌与特定的仙人掌物种有关，这种仙人掌-苍蝇-酵母菌系统一直是生态学和进化研究的主题。这些仙人掌大约有20种分布在巴拿马地峡两岸和加勒比海地区，这一群体的生物地理历史尚存疑问。拟议的仙人掌进化史研究将允许与那些已知的与仙人掌有关的酵母和果蝇进行比较。这项提议的研究将检验有关仙人掌进化和生物地理历史的重要假设，并将为涉及其他群体的共同进化过程的研究开辟一个新的领域。可供选择的假设将被测试，结果将引起植物学家、生物地理学家和进化生物学家等广泛读者的兴趣。

Graduate student Cornejo proposes to study the tropical columnar cactus genus Stenocereus using protein electrophoresis methods in order to reconstruct species-level evolutionary relationships. Flies of the genus Drosophila and species of yeast are associated with particular cactus species, and this cactus-fly-yeast system has been the subject of previous ecological and evolutionary study. Approximately 20 species of these cacti are distributed on both sides of the Panamanian Ishthmus and through the Caribbean, and the group's biogeographic history is in question. The proposed research on the evolutionary history of the cacti will allow comparisons with those already known for the yeast and Drosphila associated with the cactus. The proposed research will test important hypotheses concerning the evolutionary and biogeographic history of the cacti, and will open a new area of research on coevolutionary processes involving other groups. Alternate hypotheses will be tested, and the results will hold interest for a wide audience of botanists, biogeographers, and evolutionary biologists.