Dissertation Research: Estimating gene flow directionality and shared biogeographic histories of Western Atlantic Syngnathidae

西大西洋是一个生物多样性丰富的海洋环境，强大的洋流对海洋物种的形成和持续发挥着重要作用。这个项目的目的是调查主要的洋流以及气候和地理过程是如何促进西大西洋海马和管鱼（Syngnathidae）的多样化的。大多数Synganthidae物种都有可能通过漂浮的植被被动分散，这是一种非常适合研究洋流对种群连通性的长期和当代影响的生物学特性。研究人员将重建DNA谱系，并整合基于gis的环境数据，以估计当代和历史物种分布，同时研究基因流和气候历史对这些共同分布的分类群的影响。通过使用新一代DNA测序方法的最新进展，关于是什么驱动了这组鱼类的多样化的问题将得到解决。这将有助于更好地理解生态和进化过程是如何塑造今天的？并进一步深入了解鱼类在西大西洋的扩散潜力。对种群间基因流动方向和人口历史的强有力推断可能证明是传统生态调查的一种成本有效的替代方法，并证明在估计海洋保护区安置和管理的种群连通性方面是有用的。本研究收集的信息将作为一个网站的基础，旨在实施和解释基因流推断，以进行保护管理。此外，这些目标的实现将包括培养来自纽约皇后学院的本科生，从事分子生态学和进化研究。

The western Atlantic is a biologically diverse marine environment where powerful ocean currents can play a significant role in the formation and persistence of marine species. The aim of this project is to investigate how major current forces as well as climatic and geographic processes have contributed to the diversification of western Atlantic seahorses and pipefishes (Syngnathidae). Most species of Synganthidae have the potential to disperse passively by rafting on floating vegetation, a biological trait well suited for studying the long-term and contemporary effects of ocean currents on population connectivity. The investigators will reconstruct DNA genealogies and integrate GIS-based environmental data to estimate contemporary and historical species distributions while examining the impact that gene flow and climatic history have had on these co-distributed taxa. By using recent advances in next-generation DNA sequencing methods, questions regarding what drives diversification in this group of fishes will be addressed. This will contribute to a better understanding of how ecological and evolutionary processes shape today?s Syngnathidae populations and provide further insight into the dispersal potential of fish in the western Atlantic.Robust inference of gene flow directionality and demographic history among populations may prove a cost effective alternative to traditional ecological surveys and prove useful in the estimation of population connectivity for marine reserve placement and management. The information gathered in this research will serve as the basis for a website aimed at implementing and interpreting gene flow inference for conservation management. In addition, the pursuit of these objectives will include the training of undergraduate students from Queens College, New York, in molecular ecology and evolution research.