MCF: Ecology and Evolution of Nectar-feeding Bats and Columnar Cacti

首席研究员将于1992-93学年在亚利桑那大学生态和进化生物学系进行实地工作，研究索诺兰沙漠中食蚁病蝙蝠-仙人掌相互作用的生态学和进化。本研究将检验两种假设：(1)迁徙采蜜蝙蝠的系统地理学符合Avise et al.（1987）的I型模式：亚种内部应该有很强的系统发育连续性，亚种之间应该有很强的遗传分离；(2)异源、蝙蝠授粉的仙人掌Pachycereus pringlei的性别比例在地理上存在差异，种群中雌性的比例与食蜜蝙蝠的可用性呈正相关。私家侦探将使用mtDNA技术来检验第一个假设，并使用观察技术来检验第二个假设。当他不在现场时，他将在分子进化和分子系统学实验室工作，学习分子技术（如mtDNA和cpDNA限制性位点分析）和系统发育分析方法。这些技术对未来研究新世界沙漠生态系统中蝙蝠-植物相互作用的历史生态学至关重要。

The Principal Investigator will spend the 1992-93 academic year in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona conducting field work on the ecology and evolution of nectarivorous bat-cactus interactions in the Sonoran desert. Two hypotheses will be examined in this research: (1) the phylogeography of the migratory nectar-feeding bat Leptonycterid curasoae conforms to the type I pattern of Avise et al. (1987): there should be strong phylogenetic continuity within subspecies and a strong genetic separation between subspecies; northern migrants of the Mexican species represent a random draw from southern populations and (2) sex ratios in the trioecious, bat- pollinated cactus Pachycereus pringlei vary geographically with the proportion of females in populations being positively correlated with the availability of nectarivorous bats. The P.I. will use mtDNA techniques to test the first hypothesis and observational techniques to test the second hypothesis. When not in the field he P.I. will work in the Laboratory of Molecular Evolution and Molecular Systematics to learn molecular techniques (e.g. mtDNA and cpDNA restriction site analysis) and methods of phylogenetic analysis. These techniques are essential for future studies of the historical ecology of bat-plant interactions in New World desert ecosystems.