Systematics of Piranha Shape and Ontogeny

9509195 Zelditch这项研究将扩展体型个体发育（单个个体从卵到成虫的发育）的研究，以提供关于胚胎发育的信息，并提供无法从其他身体特征的比较中获得的信息。拟议的研究将扩展这些体型个体发育的研究，作为正在进行的食人鱼修订的一部分。 这项工作的意义在于，它涉及使用一种新的形态测量方法，并调查这种方法的优点和缺点及其在系统生物学中的实用性。具体来说，研究将解决有关个体发育和生殖发育之间的关系的一般问题。一个普遍的问题是个体发育对形态进化的潜在制约。一个经常被引用的限制是发育整合，即个体发育各部分之间的联系。一个具体的假设是，发育整合的功能将表现出一致的系统发育模式，因为实际上，他们不是独立的字符。这一直是系统学和进化形态学中的一个重要问题，并将在本研究中进行研究。 ***

9509195 Zelditch This research will extend studies of the ontogeny (the development of single individuals from egg to adult) of body form to be informative about phylogeny, and to provide information that was not available from comparisons of other body features. The proposed research will extend these studies of the ontogeny of body form, as part of an ongoing revision of piranha fishes. %%% The significance of the work is that it involves use of a novel morphometric method and investigation of the strengths and weaknesses of this method and its utility to systematic biology. Specifically, the research will address general questions regarding the relationship between ontogeny and phylogeny. One general question concerns the potential constraints that ontogeny may impose on morphological evolution. A commonly invoked constraint is Odevelopmental integrationO the association among the parts of an ontogeny. One specific hypothesis is that developmentally integrated features will exhibit congruent phylogenetic patterns because, in effect, they are not independent characters. This has been an important issue in systematics and evolutionary morphology and will be examined in this research. ***