Dissertation Research: Reproductive Isolation in the Prosobranch Snail Genus Nucella

小行星9623796 当一种机制的发展，防止以前杂交种群之间的基因交换，两个种群获得独立的进化分歧的潜力。 这个过程，被称为生殖隔离或生物物种形成，确保了种群的进化独立性，为进一步的形态，生理和行为分歧提供了机会。在该奖项资助的研究中，将开展多学科研究计划，整合交配研究，化石记录和基于DNA的高分辨率种群发生学的数据，以分析两种不同的捕食性海洋蜗牛Nucella embryata '北方'和N.南 这一发现将使人们有可能了解在北美西部岩石海岸发现的最常见的潮间带蜗牛类群之一的物种形成过程。 最后，目前的生物多样性格局直接受到自然界物种形成速度的影响。 重建的历史模式的变化之前，期间，和之后的生殖隔离的进化提供了深入了解的过程中，驱动隔离机制的进化和物种的辐射。 这种知识可以直接加强保护海洋系统生物多样性的努力。

9623796 Grosberg When a mechanism evolves that prevents the exchange of genes between previously interbreeding populations, both populations gain the potential for independent evolutionary divergence. This process, referred to as reproductive isolation or biological speciation, ensures the evolutionary independence of a population, providing an opportunity for further morphological, physiological, and behavioral divergence. In the research funded by this award a multidisciplinary research plan will be carried out to integrate data from mating studies, the fossil record, and a highly resolved DNA-based phylogeny of populations to analyze the evolution of reproductive isolation between two diverging species of predatory marine snails, Nucella emarginata 'northern' and N. emarginata 'southern'. Findings will make possible an understanding of the process of speciation within one of the most common taxa of intertidal snails found on the rocky shores of western North America. Ultimately, present patterns of biological diversity are directly influenced by the rate at which speciation occurs in nature. Reconstructing the historical patterns of variation before, during, and after the evolution of reproductive isolation provides insight into the processes which drive the evolution of isolating mechanisms and the radiation of species. Such knowledge can directly enhance efforts to conserve biodiversity in marine systems.