Dissertation Research: Morphometric and Functional Analysisof Gasterosteus aculeatus

这项研究将研究身体的变化模式， 在人群中形成一种地方性辐射， 阿拉斯加库克湾的三刺鱼 目前的表型进化模型。 棘鱼 沿着北美西海岸的一些重要的 进化生物学家，因为最近 (22 000年）的不同淡水殖民 海洋祖先种群的栖息地， 随后营养和运动分化 在人群中的形态。 身体形态将是 使用二维（x，y）坐标测量 解剖标志，允许使用最 强大的方法来描述和分析 形状 功能整合的三个假设 模型将被测试：1）遗传和 表型相关反映功能整合 (i.e.一组角色在音乐会上 应该有更高的相关性比功能 不相关的字符）。 2)表型模式 种群间的相关性相似。第三章 表型的区际和区内分布模式 相关性是相似的。 生物力学模型和 将使用营养和运动性能指标 构建先验假设来检验功能性 一体化 预计由此产生的结果 研究将提供一些关键的经验数据， 有必要解决相互矛盾的假设的作用 影响表型差异的限制因素 密切相关的人群。

This study will examine patterns of variation in body form among populations of an endemic radiation of threespine stickleback from Cook Inlet, Alaska to test current models of phenotypic evolution. Stickleback along the west coast of North America are of interest to the evolutionary biologist because of the recent (22,000 years) colonization of diverse freshwater habitats from a marine ancestral population and subsequent differentiation of trophic and locomotor morphology among the populations. Body form will be measured using two-dimensional (x,y) coordinates of anatomical landmarks that permit the use of the most powerful methods available to describe and analyze shape. Three hypotheses of a functional integration model will be tested: 1) patterns of genetic and phenotypic correlations reflect functional integration (i.e. suites of characters that function in concert should have higher correlations than functionally unrelated characters). 2) patterns of phenotypic correlation are similar among populations. 3) interlocality and intralocality patterns of phenotypic correlations are similar. Biomechanical models and trophic and locomotor performance measures will be used to construct a priori hypotheses to test for functional integration. It is anticipated that results from this study will provide some of the critical empirical data necessary to resolve conflicting hypotheses on the role of constraints influencing phenotypic divergence among closely related populations.