Molecular Systematics and Tests of Monophyly Within the Small-bodied, Small-scaled Radiation of Sceloporus (Phrynosomatidae)

该项目依次包括密集实地采集阶段和后续实验室分析阶段。田野研究的中心是在墨西哥进行几乎全部的研究收集，在一名墨西哥科学家和他的学生的指导下，收集引人注目和极其多样化的蜥蜴属Scelopus。在收集的标本中，至少60%将作为标准博物馆代金券存放在墨西哥国立大学的研究收藏品中，其余标本(最终比例将根据许可证要求确定)也将被编入美国收藏品目录。同时，在这些动物被捕获后，将从它们身上收集大量冰冻组织样本，所有冰冻组织将被送回并编入美国的组织收藏。物种和不同的种群将被非随机地收集，以最大限度地利用样本来解决生态学和历史生物地理学中的各种基本问题。例如，将从巴哈半岛、科尔特斯海的一些岛屿和墨西哥西部大陆收集选定的物种，目的是测试关于相对于巴哈和大陆的岛屿种群来源的替代想法。这些数据将对了解整个岛屿生物群的起源具有重要意义，因为这些岛屿上的所有物种都经历了形成巴哈半岛和科尔特斯海的相同地质事件，并强调了这些基本完好的系统在保护方面的价值。第二组蜥蜴将从墨西哥中部的横向火山山脉收集，因为这些种群在适应高海拔的过程中表现出从产卵到繁殖的不同阶段。在这两种情况下，实验室工作将利用两类独立的分子标记，包括蛋白质和DNA分子，重建样本种群的谱系。实验室工作将为墨西哥和美国的研究生和研究助理提供广泛的培训机会和合作。

This project includes an intensive field collecting phase and a follow-up laboratory analysis phase, in that order. The field research centers on making research collections almost entirely in Mexico, under the direction of a Mexican scientist and his students, of the conspicuous and extremely diverse lizard genus Sceloporus. Of the specimens collected, at least 60% will be deposited as standard museum vouchers in a research collection at Mexico's National University, and the remaining specimens (the final proportions will be determined by permit requirements) will likewise be catalogued in U.S. collections. Simultaneously, large collection of frozen tissue samples will be made from these animals upon their capture, and all frozen tissues will be returned and catalogued into U.S. tissue collections. Species and distinct populations will be collected nonrandomly so as to maximize the utility of the samples for addressing a variety of basic questions in ecology and historical biogeography. For example, selected species are to be collected from the Baja Peninsula, some islands in the Sea of Cortez, and the western mainland of Mexico for the purpose of testing alternative ideas concerning the derivation of island populations relative to those of Baja and the mainland. These data will have important implications for understanding the origins of entire island biotas, since all species present on these islands were subjected to the same geological events which formed the Baja Peninsula and the Sea of Cortez, and for emphasizing the value of these still largely intact systems for conservation. A second group of lizards will be collected from the transverse volcanic range of central Mexico because these populations display different stages of the transition from egg-laying to live- bearing reproductive modes associated with adaptions to high elevations. In both cases, laboratory work will utilize two independent classes of molecular markers, including proteins and DNA molecules, to reconstruct the genealogies of the populations sampled. The lab work will support extensive training opportunities and collaboration for both Mexican and U.S. graduate students and research associates.