Collaborative Research: Diversification in the Deep-Sea and the Evolution of Fangs, Bioluminescence, Hermaphroditism, and Marine Habitat Transitions

所有在深海进化的动物都受到环境的相似选择压力（例如，几乎没有阳光，高气压）。这种极端的栖息地导致了深海生物的动物形态和行为的大规模趋同，包括生物发光，扩大的獠牙和张开的嘴巴。在这个项目中，研究人员将建立生物进化模型，模拟深海适应性的演变，并揭示这些适应性与三个主要鱼类分支的多样化率之间的联系。这项研究整合了基于遗传和形态学数据，比较形态学，生态学和进化生物学的系统发育关系，以扩大我们对深海鱼类进化，繁荣和多样化的理解。这项研究将增加我们对各种深海进化适应的理解，包括用于捕食，防御，物种识别和性选择的生物发光结构。这些新的形态和行为从来没有被研究的背景下，一个强大的进化框架的基础上分子和形态数据。由此产生的假设将包括一个基于化石记录的时间组成部分，这将使我们能够首次探索这些专门化是否对深海的物种形成产生潜在影响。该项目将支持在堪萨斯大学和美国自然历史博物馆对博士后、研究生、本科生和高中生进行海洋生物学、系统学和进化生物学方面的培训。这项工作的发现将继续增加由PI Sparks和共同PI Smith（光的生物）创建和策划的新生物发光展览。

All animals that have evolved in the deep sea are under similar selective pressures as a result of the environment (e.g., little to no sunlight, high atmospheric pressure). This extreme habitat has led to massive convergence in animal morphology and behavior across deep-sea organisms, including bioluminescence, enlarged fangs and gaping mouths. In this project, the investigators will build phylogenies, model the evolution of deep-sea adaptations and uncover the links between these adaptations and diversification rates in three major clades of fishes. This study integrates phylogenetic relationships based on genetic and morphological data, comparative morphology, ecology, and evolutionary biology in an effort to broaden our understanding of fishes that have evolved, thrived, and diversified in the deep sea. This research will increase our understanding of a diverse array of deep-sea evolutionary adaptations, including bioluminescent structures that are used for predation, defense, species recognition, and sexual selection. These novel morphologies and behaviors have never before been studied within the context of a robust evolutionary framework based on molecular and morphological data. The resulting hypotheses will include a temporal component based on the fossil record that will allow us to explore, for the first time, whether these specializations are having potential effects on speciation in the deep sea. This project will support the training of postdoctoral, graduate, undergraduate, and high school students in marine biology, systematics, and evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas and American Museum of Natural History. Findings from this work will continue to augment a new bioluminescence exhibit created and curated by PI Sparks and co-PI Smith (Creatures of Light).