Dissertation Research: The Phylogeny of Scinax (Anura: Hylidae): Molecules, Morphology, Biogeography, and the Evolution of a Diverse Treefrog Group

美国自然历史博物馆的Darrel Frost博士和Julian Faivovich先生将研究分布在从墨西哥到阿根廷的热带和亚热带地区的Scinax属树蛙的进化关系。大约有85种已知的和几十个等待描述，Scinax是最多样化的自然组合的中南美树蛙科。这种多样性，再加上当地丰富的物种，导致许多行为生态学和生理学的研究人员使用Scinax物种作为研究择偶、发声、生殖行为和活动代谢等的模型。本研究将收集证据，从线粒体和核DNA序列，形态，发声，生殖生物学和行为的大约73种的Scinax和几个相关的群体，以测试的单系性的Scinax，提高理解之间的关系Scinax和其他树蛙，并解决之间的关系Scinax的物种。研究结果也将被作者用来检验关于发声、形态多样化、栖息地选择和美洲地理学的演变模式和机制的假设。这项研究的结果将为生态学家和生理学家提供一个预测性的历史框架，用于解释越来越多的Scinax比较研究。更重要的是，研究结果将与保护研究有关。近50%的已知Scinax物种是巴西东南部大西洋森林的特有物种，这是一个高度分散和极度濒危的生态系统。这些物种的历史多样性的知识，以及本研究将产生的基础生物学的理解，将提供重要的信息，设计令人信服的保护策略。

Dr. Darrel Frost and Mr. Julian Faivovich of the American Museum of Natural History will study evolutionary relationships of treefrogs of the genus Scinax, which is distributed in tropical and subtropical regions from Mexico to Argentina. With approximately 85 species known and several dozen awaiting description, Scinax is the most diverse natural assemblage of Meso- and South American treefrogs of the family Hylidae. This diversity, coupled with the local abundance of many species, has led many researchers in behavioral ecology and physiology to use species of Scinax as models in studies of mate selection, vocalizations, reproductive behavior, and activity metabolism, among others. The present study will collect evidence from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences, morphology, vocalizations, reproductive biology, and behavior for approximately 73 species of Scinax and several related groups in order to test the monophyly of Scinax, improve understanding of the relationship between Scinax and other treefrogs, and resolve the relationships among the species of Scinax. The resulting phylogeny also will be used by the authors to test hypotheses about patterns and mechanisms of the evolution of vocalizations, morphological diversification, habitat selection, and biogeography of the Americas.This study will train a doctoral student. Results of this study will provide ecologists and physiologists a predictive historical framework for the interpretation of the growing mass of comparative studies of Scinax. More importantly, the results will be relevant to conservation studies. Nearly 50% of the known species of Scinax are endemic to the Atlantic forest of southeastern Brazil, a highly fragmented and critically endangered ecosystem. Knowledge of the historical diversification of these species, as well as the improved understanding of their basic biology that this study will engender, will provide crucial information to design cogent conservation strategies.