Collaborative Research: Phylogeny and rates of evolution in an ecologically hyperdiverse mammalian radiation (Chiroptera: Noctilionoidea)

夜行蝙蝠由200多个物种组成，几乎涵盖了陆地哺乳动物的整个生态多样性。它们的范围从微小的食虫和蜜食动物到大型食肉动物，甚至吸血蝙蝠。这个超级家族提供了一个无与伦比的系统来了解蝙蝠如何、何时和在哪里进化出新的食物、改变栖息习惯和发展不同种类的回声定位。该项目将使用DNA序列和形态变异的比较来重建这些蝙蝠之间的进化关系，包括20个灭绝物种的化石。与估计历史事件时间的强大方法一起，这一广泛的化石系列将为研究所有物种的生态适应、物种形成和灭绝的模式和过程提供一个时间表。这个项目将指导和培训研究生、研究生和本科生分子和形态实验室技术和研究方法。在这项研究过程中产生的数据--包括照片和DNA序列--将通过各级教育工作者经常使用的现有数据库和在线储存库免费向公众提供。通过Morphobank对形态数据进行广泛的记录将有助于未来的研究。最后，该项目将为探索在高度多样化的哺乳动物群体中推动生态和物种多样性的机制提供一个强大的框架。

Noctilionoid bats comprise more than 200 species that span nearly the entire ecological diversity of land mammals. They range from tiny insectivores and nectarivores to large carnivores, and even vampire bats. This superfamily provides an unparalleled system for understanding how, when, and where bats evolved new diets, changed roosting habits and developed different kinds of echolocation. This project will use DNA sequences and comparison of morphological variations to reconstruct evolutionary relationships among these bats, including the fossils of 20 extinct species. Together with powerful methods for estimating the timing of historical events, this extensive fossil series will provide a timeline for investigating patterns and processes of ecological adaptation, speciation, and extinction across all species.This project will mentor and train postgraduate, graduate, and undergraduate students in molecular and morphological laboratory techniques and research methods. The data generated during the course of this study -- including photographs and DNA sequences -- will be freely available to the public through existing databases and online repositories heavily used by educators at all levels. Extensive documentation of morphological data through Morphobank will facilitate future research. Finally, this project will provide a robust framework for exploring the mechanisms driving ecological and species diversity in a hyperdiverse group of mammals.