Collaborative Research: An inclusive phylogeny for the Pseudoxyrhophiine snakes in Madagascar: understanding causes of species diversification

这项研究将考察导致物种多样化的过程--在数量、形式和生态方面。首先，将产生马达加斯加假氧罗非辛毒蛇的系统发育。这种高度多样化的脊椎动物有130多个物种，生活在树栖、陆地、化石和水生生境以及热带雨林、山林、沼泽、草原和沙漠中。使用下一代测序(NGS)技术来产生数百个基因，将产生这个蛇类的第一个全面的系统发育。其次，系统发育将与形态和生态数据(包括遥感数据和地理信息系统)在计算密集的框架内整合，以揭示物种、生态和形态如何随着时间的推移一起进化，并检查与适应性辐射相关的过程。该项目还将培养本科生、博士生和博士后研究员。研究结果将通过美国自然历史博物馆的科学公报、纽约州立大学的电视节目《与最好的人一起学习》等形式广泛向公众公布。除了揭示复杂的进化过程外，这项研究的结果还将对这一组蛇的保护应用具有价值。

This study will examine processes that lead to the diversification of species -- in number, form and ecology. First, a phylogeny of the Madagascar pseudoxyrhophiine snakes will be produced. This highly diverse group of vertebrates, with more than 130 species, occurs in arboreal, terrestrial, fossorial, and aquatic habitats, as well as tropical rainforests, mountain forests, swamps, grasslands and deserts. Using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) techniques to generate hundreds of genes, the first comprehensive phylogeny of this snake group will be produced. Second, the phylogeny will be integrated with morphological and ecological data (including remotely-sensed data and GIS), in a computationally intense framework, to reveal how species, ecology and morphology evolve together over time and to examine the processes associated with adaptive radiations. This project will also train undergraduates, doctoral students, and a postdoctoral researcher. Results will be widely communicated to the public via the American Museum of Natural History's Science Bulletin, CUNY's TV Program "Study with the Best", and other formats. In addition to revealing complex evolutionary processes, results of this research will also have valuable conservation applications for this group of snakes.