Adaptive Radiation and Evolutionary Convergence in Neotropical Cichlids

慈鲷科鱼类是世界上最具多样性和生态重要性的淡水鱼类之一。对生活在东非大裂谷湖泊中的慈鲷鱼进行了数十年的广泛研究，为科学提供了导致生态多样性产生的最明显的进化例子之一。在西半球，慈鲷科的范围从德克萨斯州到阿根廷，物种显示出非常广泛的生态，形态和行为特征。不幸的是，主要群体之间的新热带慈鲷的进化关系是不完全解决，使现代定量评估生态多样性是不可能的。该研究项目使用线粒体和核基因组的核苷酸序列结合一组形态特征，以调查两个物种丰富和生态多样的慈鲷鱼谱系内和之间的关系。由此产生的进化模型将被用来作为一个框架，在这个重要的鱼类群体的生态多样化（适应辐射）的模式进行检查。适应性辐射和收敛的研究需要整合来自植物学、生态学和形态学的信息。这项研究整合了西半球慈鲷鱼，一组具有很大的希望，为适应性辐射的研究提供第二个模型系统的信息。慈鲷鱼具有重要的经济价值，因为它们支持整个西半球的主要商业，生计和娱乐渔业。许多物种在世界各地的水族馆鱼类产业中也很重要。关于慈鲷鱼的新的生态和分子数据将作为永久网站上的数据库提供给科学界。该项目也有重要的教育内容。参加两项NSF培训赠款的本科生将参加拉丁美洲的实地研究和与该补助金的进化或生态组成部分相关的实验室研究。研究生和博士后研究员也将通过参与该项目接受培训。这项研究的活动和结果将通过科学出版物，网站和与信息技术在教学和学习科学中的应用中心相关的资源进行传播，这是一个NSF资助的项目，强调基于网络的技术，以提高K-12科学教育。

The cichlid fishes are one of the most diverse and ecologically important families of fishes inhabiting freshwaters of the planet. Decades of extensive research on the cichlid fishes inhabiting the great rift lakes of East Africa have provided science with one of the clearest examples of evolution leading to the generation ecological diversity. In the Western Hemisphere, the family Cichlidae ranges from Texas to Argentina, and species display a very broad array of ecological, morphological, and behavioral traits. Unfortunately, evolutionary relationships among major groups of Neotropical cichlids are incompletely resolved, making modern quantitative assessment of ecological diversification impossible. This research project uses nucleotide sequences from mitochondrial and nuclear genomes in combination with a set of morphological characters to investigate relationships within and between two species-rich and ecologically diverse lineages of cichlid fishes. The resultant evolutionary model will be used as a framework for examining patterns of ecological diversification (adaptive radiation) in this important group of fishes. Studies of adaptive radiation and convergence require the integration of information from phylogeny, ecology, and morphology. This study integrates such information for cichlid fishes in the Western Hemisphere, a group that holds great promise for providing a second model system for the study of adaptive radiation. Cichlid fishes have great economic importance, because they support major commercial, subsistence, and recreational fisheries throughout the Western Hemisphere. Many species are also important in the aquarium fish industry worldwide. New ecological and molecular data on cichlid fishes will be made available to the scientific community as databases on permanent websites. The project also has major educational components. Undergraduate students enrolled in two NSF training grants will participate in field research in Latin America and laboratory research related to evolutionary or ecological components of this grant. Graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher also will receive training through participation in the project. Activities and results of this research will be disseminated through scientific publications, websites, and resources associated with the Center for Application of Informational Technology in Teaching and Learning Science, an NSF-funded program that emphasizes web-based techniques for enhancing K-12 science education.