REU: Intraspecific Variation and Evolutionary Innovation

目前的研究建议继续进行两年， 旨在揭示可变性、继承性和 差异适应度影响形态学的进化 动物物种内的变异。 多形态的老虎 蝾螈，Ambystoma tigrinum，将成为解决三个问题的模型 问题. 1）。开发时间的变化超过 进化时间影响形态变异的起源 在物种？ 2)遗传模型的简单扩展 描述物种的连续变异 3)是自然 选择，特别是通过物种内的竞争， 水生栖息地的可预测性， 种群内和种群间的形态变异？ 这些 问题涉及如何连续的一般问题， 一个物种内的形态变异得以维持或 转化为不连续的形态变化， 在人群之间。 将使用实验室和现场研究问题 实验和观察。 其中包括形态测量 分析动物生长过程中大小和形状的变化， 补充说明地理变异， 形态学 育种实验将量化遗传和 环境对形态变异的贡献 人口。 最后，设计了几个实验， 提供了一种将解剖学、饮食和 健身 总的来说，拟议的研究项目有助于 我们对生态和 进化过程与物种内的变异和 新的进化形式的起源。

A two-year continuation of current research is proposed with projects designed to uncover how variability, inheritance, and differential fitness affect the evolution of morphological variation within species of animals. The polymorphic tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum, will be a model to address three questions. 1). Have changes in timing of development over evolutionary time affected the origin of morphological variation within species? 2) Will simple extensions of genetic models describing continuous variation in species? 3) Is natural selection, especially through competition within species and predictability of the aquatic habitat, a force maintaining morphological variation within and between populations? These questions relate to the general issue of how continuous morphological variation within a species is maintained or converted into discontinuous morphological variation within or between populations. Questions will be studied using laboratory and field experiments and observations. These include morphometric analyses of changes in size and shape as animals grow, complemented by descriptions of geographic variation in morphology. Breeding experiments will quantify genetic and environmental contributions to morphological variation among populations. Finally, several experiments are designed to provide a means for relating variation in anatomy, diet, and fitness. Collectively, the research projects proposed contribute to our developing understanding of the ecological and evolutionary processes relating variation within species and the origin of novel evolutionary forms.