Collaborative Research: Phylogeny of leiobunine harvestman (Opiliones) of eastern North America and phylogeny-based tests of sexually antagonistic coevolution

摘要交配中使用的结构和行为往往比其他特征进化得更快。对这种模式的一种解释是，两性正在进行一场永无止境的“军备竞赛”，在这场竞赛中，男性和女性争夺各自对生殖投资的控制权。合作者舒尔茨和海丁将在收割者或长腿爸爸身上测试性别冲突假说。他们将领导一个国际团队，利用分子序列数据重建90个物种之间的进化关系。由此产生的系统发育树将是这些动物的第一份系统发育树，并将用于确定生殖特征进化变化的时间和方向。统计测试将确定进化模式是否与性军备竞赛一致，在这种竞赛中，一种性别的对抗性特征促进另一种性别的防御或对抗性特征的进化。该项目将产生急需的数据，以解决有关生殖特征迅速多样化背后的进化机制的持续争议。此外，该项目还将资助来自华盛顿特区地区低收入家庭的30名儿童参加马里兰大学的夏令营。向露营者介绍昆虫和其他节肢动物的多样性和科学研究。该项目还将培训马里兰大学和圣地亚哥州立大学的系统学和进化生物学研究生。

AbstractStructures and behaviors used in mating tend to evolve more rapidly than other features. One explanation for this pattern is that the sexes are engaged in a perpetual "arms race" in which males and females vie for control over the investment each makes toward reproduction. Collaborators Shultz and Hedin will test the sexual-conflict hypothesis in harvestmen or daddy long-legs. They will lead an international team to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships among 90 species using molecular sequence data. The resulting phylogenetic tree will be the first for these animals and will be used to determine the timing and direction of evolutionary changes in reproductive features. Statistical tests will determine whether evolutionary patterns are consistent with a sexual arms race in which antagonistic features of one sex promote the evolution of defensive or antagonistic features in the other. The project will generate much-needed data for addressing on-going controversies about the evolutionary mechanisms underlying rapid diversification of reproductive features. In addition, the project will fund 30 children from low-income families in the Washington DC area to participate in a summer day camp at the University of Maryland. Campers are introduced to the diversity and scientific study of insects and other arthropods. The project will also train graduate students in systematics and evolutionary biology at the University of Maryland and San Diego State University.