RUI: Evolution of the Endemic Lizard Fauna of New Caledonia

新喀里多尼亚是南太平洋上的一个古老岛屿，拥有高度地方性的陆生生物群。在脊椎动物中，蜥蜴的种类尤其繁多（约有20个属）。新喀里多尼亚特有蜥蜴的进化史将被重建，以评估过去8000万年的事件是如何相互作用的，从而在一个小岛屿环境中产生了高度的生物多样性。Drs。维拉诺瓦大学的鲍尔和杰克曼将根据形态和分子特征（DNA序列）的综合数据集重建所有新喀里多尼亚蜥蜴的系统发育。系统发生学将用于建立关于生物体随时间的地理分布的假设。分子钟将被用来区分与晚白垩纪澳大利亚新喀里多尼亚分裂有关的更古老的谱系分裂，以及表明在水上分散的定性的更晚的分裂。新喀里多尼亚的历史生物地理学将通过将爬行动物的系统发育资料与在岛上显示类似多样化模式的其他生物的系统发育资料结合起来加以研究。这些分类群一致分布的区域将被认定为特有区，并将使用几种当前的分析生物地理方法进行分析。该研究将为新喀里多尼亚蜥蜴的进化形态学和生态学的后续研究提供坚实的系统发育背景，并将为这一生物多样性热点的更详细和复杂的生物地理学研究奠定基础。收集到的DNA序列数据将供其他研究人员使用，博物馆的资料将存放在美国、澳大利亚和法国的收藏中，以供未来的研究。该项目将促进国际研究合作（美国、澳大利亚和新喀里多尼亚[法国领土]），并将促进本科生和一名博士后的专业发展，以及加强一所主要本科院校的研究环境。

New Caledonia is an ancient island in the South Pacific that supports ahighly endemic terrestrial biota. Among vertebrates, lizards are particularly diverse (~ 20 genera). The evolutionary history of the endemic New Caledonian lizards will be reconstructed in order to evaluate how events over the last 80 million years have interacted to yield high biodiversity in a small insular setting. Drs. Bauer and Jackman at Villanova University will reconstruct phylogenies for all New Caledonian lizards based on a combined data set of morphological and molecular characters (DNA sequences). Phylogenies will be used to erect hypotheses about the geographic distributions of the organisms through time. A molecular clock will be invoked to distinguish between older lineage splits associated with the fragmentation of New Caledonia from Australia in the Late Cretaceous and qualitatively later divisions indicative of over-water dispersal. The historical biogeography of New Caledonia will be examined by combining phylogenetic information from reptiles with that from other organisms showing similar patterns of diversification within the island. Regions of congruent distribution of these taxa will be recognized as areas of endemism that will be analyzed using several current analytical biogeographic approaches. This research will provide a robust phylogenetic background for subsequent studies of the evolutionary morphology and ecology of the NewCaledonian lizards and will serve as the foundation for more detailed and sophisticated biogeographic studies of this biodiversity hotspot. The DNA sequence data collected will be made available for the use of other researchers, and museum material will be deposited in collections in the United States, Australia, and France for future studies. The project will promote international research cooperation (United States, Australia and New Caledonia [a French territory]) and will foster the professional development of undergraduates and a postdoctoral associate, as well as strengthen the research environment at a primarily undergraduate institution.