Dissertation Research: Genetic Variation of the Genus Lemur

在现存的灵长类动物中，狐猴属从分类学的角度来看是最复杂的之一。已知的种类有6种，其中1种为黄腹狐猴，分布于7个异地亚种。它们之间的关系以及它们的遗传分化模式尚不清楚。PI将检查与物种形成过程中不同阶段相关的遗传分化水平，并将使用狐猴属的数据来检查异地物种形成的模型。具体地说，PI将检验这样一个假设，即随着地理种群之间的比较，然后是亚种，最后是物种，遗传分化程度逐渐增大。这些数据还将被用来研究狐猴的系统学，特别是狐猴黄褐斑狐属是否如所提出的那样是该属其他物种的祖先。

Among the living primates the genus Lemur is one of the most complicated from the taxonomic point of view. There are six recognized species and one, Lemur fulvus, occurs in seven allopatric subspecies. Their relationships to one another and the mode of their genetic differentiation is not known. The PI will examine levels of genetic differentiation associated with various stages in the process of speciation and, using data from the genus Lemur, will examine the model of allopatric speciation. Specifically, the PI will test the hypothesis that there is progressively greater genetic differentiation as comparisons are made among geographic populations, then subspecies, and finally species. These data will also be used to address the systematics of lemurs, and specifically whether Lemur fulvus is ancestral to other species in the genus, as has been proposed.