Systematic and Evolutionary Studies of Percid Fishes

北美鱼类动物群提供了一个信息量大的天然实验室，可用于比较、进化和系统发育关系的研究。如果没有这些数据，这些动物就无法直接估计群落的形成、进化生态学以及物种形成的模式和速度。鲤科鱼类代表着北美最多样化的种群之一，但许多物种之间的关系却鲜为人知。这项研究的目的是用淀粉凝胶电泳法和系统发育分析来验证几个飞镖物种先前的生物地理和进化关系假说。目标物种内部和之间的关系在解决北美东部许多水系最近建造的区域(河流)分支图方面非常有用，这些分支图确定了动物起源的时间远在更新世之前。这项研究将集中在Etheostoma属的两个广泛分布的种，Etheostoma亚属(Etheostoma属)内的物种之间的亲缘关系，以及该分支与Ulocentra亚属(或Nanostoma)的亲缘关系。这项研究的潜在收获并不局限于修订的分类学和传统上令人困惑的群体的关系。这一分析将为今后对鲤鱼的系统研究提供一个框架，并提高我们对进化生物学的理解。

The North American fish fauna provides an informative, natural laboratory useful in investigations of comparative, evolutionary, and -- phylogenetic relationships. Without these data the fauna is rendered inaccessible for direct estimates of community formation, evolutionary ecology, and modes and rates of speciation. Fishes of the family Percidae represent one of the most diverse groups in North America, yet relationships among many of the species are poorly known. The objectives of this study are to test previous biogeographic and evolutionary relationships hypothesis for several darter species, using starch gel electrophoresis and phylogenetic analyses. Relationships within and between the target species are extremely useful in resolving recently constructed area (river) cladograms for many drainages in eastern North America that dated the origin of the fauna well before the Pleistocene. The study will focus on two wide-spread species of the percid genus Etheostoma, the relationships of species within the subgenus Etheostoma (genus Etheostoma), and the phyletic affinities of this clade to the subgenus Ulocentra (or Nanostoma). The potential gains of the study are not restricted to revised taxonomy and relationships of traditionally confusing group. The analysis will supply both a framework for future systematic studies in percid fishes and improve our understanding of evolutionary biology.