Research Starter Grant: Comparative Phylogeography of Amphibians Across the Southern Appalachians and Gulf Coastal Plain

了解在地理区域内产生遗传和生态多样性的力量对于了解物种的起源和分布至关重要。一种方法是利用进化历史的比较来确定生物多样性的模式，并推断出控制这些分布的过程。遗传多样性的空间格局的理解是至关重要的地理，生态和历史的影响，在确定的空间distributions.The拟议的研究侧重于多个，共同分布的两栖动物物种在南部阿巴拉契亚山脉和海湾沿岸平原的评估。研究人员采取了分子系统发育和人口遗传学的方法，结合地理信息系统（GIS）框架中的空间明确的生态分析，以解决问题的地理。这种方法既新颖又严谨，并使用了研究人员在加州大学伯克利分校博士后研究期间开发的技术。这种方法将提高美国东南部两栖动物种群的地理分布和系统发育关系的知识，并导致更好地了解区域地理和生物多样性。此外，这项研究对保护很重要，因为地理学分析经常揭示隐藏谱系的存在;这对两栖动物尤其如此。拟议的研究是独特的，重点是跨越南部阿巴拉契亚山脉和海湾沿岸平原生物区的多种两栖动物。这项工作具有广泛的意义，在了解冰川避难所的相对影响，扩散能力和气候的遗传变异的分布范围内和之间的两栖类物种的美国东南部。拟议的研究提供了大量的机会，本科生和研究生的职业发展。学生可以在实地收集，博物馆准备，DNA测序和GIS分析期间协助调查员。这项研究将加强亚拉巴马大学生物科学系和地理系之间的关系。合作可能会导致与国家森林和公园的州和联邦雇员。

Understanding the forces responsible for generating genetic and ecological diversity across a biogeographic region is critical to understanding the origin and distribution of species. One approach is to use comparisons of evolutionary history to determine patterns of biodiversity and infer the processes governing these distributions. An understanding of the spatial pattern of genetic diversity is critical for evaluating the affect of geography, ecology, and history in determining spatial distributions of organisms.The proposed research focuses on multiple, co-distributed amphibian species in the southern Appalachians and Gulf Coastal Plain. The investigator takes a molecular phylogenetic and population genetic approach in combination with spatially explicit ecological analyses in a geographic information systems (GIS) framework to address questions in biogeography. This approach is both novel and rigorous, and uses techniques developed during the investigator's postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California at Berkeley. This approach will improve knowledge of geographic distributions and phylogenetic relationships among populations of amphibians in the southeastern United States and lead to a better understanding of regional biogeography and biodiversity. In addition, the research is important for conservation because phylogeographic analyses often reveal the existence of hidden lineages; this is especially true for amphibians. The proposed research is unique in focusing on multiple species of amphibians that span the southern Appalachians and Gulf Coastal Plain bioregions. The work has broad significance in terms of understanding the relative impact of glacial refugia, dispersal ability, and climate on the distribution of genetic variation within and among amphibian species of the southeastern United States.The proposed research provides numerous opportunities for the career development of undergraduate students and graduate students. Students can assist the investigator during field collections, museum preparations, DNA sequencing, and GIS analyses. The research will strengthen relations between the departments of biological sciences and geography at the University of Alabama. Collaborations will likely result with state and federal employees in national forests and parks.