NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2012

陆地的可用性在陆地谱系的多样性中起着关键作用。地质动力学如何影响一个地质剧场的演化历史的推断是知之甚少。为了解决地质历史如何影响推断进化历史所需的系统发育信息量的特定功能，提出了（1）模拟地质对模拟系统发育的影响;（2）从地质动态剧场东南亚绘制的系统发育的经验假设检验。在这个问题上的进展将告知生物分布的理解和阐明的方法，其中信息系统发育标记，可以确定为个人的地理剧院。地质历史和系统发育信息之间的关系发生在生物学，地质学和数学的交叉点。解决这一问题需要生物学专业知识来理解背景（分类群分布和系统发育推断）和数学训练的数值模式的analysis.Broader影响包括教育材料的开发适合大学生和学校群体的进化史的系统发育重建，其中将纳入地质历史的观点告知拟议的研究结果。在该计划的第三年，为跨学科本科课程开发的建模和地理学教学模块将通过纽约城市大学数学和计算机科学系免费分发。拟议的建模软件将通过美国自然历史博物馆分发给学生和研究人员，以探索地质事件对模拟地震的影响。

The availability of landmass plays a key role in the diversification of terrestrial lineages through evolutionary time. How geological dynamism affects the inference of evolutionary history of a biogeographic theater is poorly understood. To address how geological history affects a specific function of phylogenetic informativeness that is required to infer evolutionary history, a combination of (1) modeling effects of geology on simulated phylogenies; and (2) empirical hypothesis testing with phylogenies drawn from a geologically dynamic theater, Southeast Asia, is proposed. Progress on this question will inform understanding of biotic distributions and elucidate methods by which informative phylogenetic markers can be identified for individual biogeographic theaters. The relationship between geological history and phylogenetic informativeness occurs at the intersection of biology, geology, and mathematics. Addressing this problem requires both biological expertise to understand the context (taxon distribution and phylogenetic inference) and mathematical training in numerical modes of analysis.Broader impacts include development of education material suitable for both undergraduates and school groups on phylogenetic reconstruction of evolutionary history, which will incorporate a perspective on geological history informed by the results of the proposed research. Modeling and biogeography teaching modules developed for an interdisciplinary undergraduate course in the third year of the program will be freely distributed through the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the City University of New York. The proposed modeling software will be distributed for students and researchers alike through the American Museum of Natural History to explore the effects of geological events on simulated phylogenies.