Historical Ecology of the North American Arid-lands Rodent Guild: Molecular Phylogenetics and Biogeography of Perognathus, Chaetodipus, and Onychomys

大陆生物群的起源远不如岛屿生物群的起源为人所知。这在很大程度上是由于大陆动物群的复杂性造成的。PI打算为三个分布广泛和不同的啮齿动物属(Perogna us，Chaetdipus和Onychomys)建立严格的系统发育图，并根据这些系统发育推断迁徙、物种形成和灭绝的模式。系统发育研究的主要工具是基于线粒体DNA序列的简约分析。这也将允许PI探索物种形成的过程。

The origins of continental biotas are much less well-known than are those of islands. This results in large part from the complexity of continental faunas. The PI intends to develop rigorous phylogenies for three widespread and diverse genera of rodents (Perognathus, Chaetodipus and Onychomys), and to infer patterns of migration, speciation, and extinction based on those phylogenies. The primary tools for development of the phylogenies are parsimony analysis based on mtDNA sequences. This will also permit the PI to explore processes of speciation.