Dissertation Research: Phylogenetic Systematics and Evolution of the Crayfish Genus Cambarus

小龙虾是整个北美东部淡水生态系统的组成部分。尽管它们很重要，但与其他水生生物相比，它们几乎没有受到系统的关注。这项研究建议完成北美第二大物种丰富的小龙虾属：坎巴鲁龙虾的系统发育(进化)假说。完成的项目将由三个基因组数据集、形态特征矩阵和这些分类群的系统发育图组成。由此产生的假说将被用来研究物种形成、生物地理和生活史进化的模式。拟议研究的更广泛影响包括将合作伙伴Pi Dillman培训为小龙虾系统学家，让本科生接触分子实验室技术和系统发育方法论，并让本科生更好地了解这一未被研究的生物群中的生物多样性。要使用的基因区域是迄今为止在北美小龙虾系统研究中使用最频繁的基因。这增加了要生成的数据与先前发布的数据的兼容性。鉴于P.I.Wood长期以来一直对水生生物(主要是鱼类)的生物地理模式感兴趣，小龙虾的使用拓宽了他实验室的工作范围，并增加了在水生生物中发现更普遍模式的机会。

Crayfishes form an integral part of freshwater ecosystems throughout eastern North America. Despite their importance, they have received little systematic attention compared to other groups of aquatic organisms. This study proposes to complete a phylogenetic (evolutionary) hypothesis for the second most species-rich genus of crayfishes in North America: Cambarus. The completed project will consist of three genomic data sets, a morphological character matrix and a phylogeny for these taxa. The resultant hypothesis will be used to investigate patterns of speciation, biogeography, and life-history evolution. Broader impacts of the proposed research include training co-PI Dillman as a crayfish systematist, exposing undergraduate students to molecular laboratory techniques and phylogenetic methodology, and providing undergraduate students with a greater appreciation for biodiversity within this understudied group of organisms. The gene regions to be used are the most frequently used genes in systematic studies of North American crayfishes to date. This increases compatibility of the data to be generated with data previously published. Given the long-standing interest of P.I. Wood in biogeographic patterns in aquatic organisms (primarily fishes) the use of crayfishes broadens the scope of work in his lab and enhances the opportunity for discovery of more generalized patterns among aquatic organisms.