DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Using Anchored Phylogenomics to Test the Validity of Suture Zones and Refugia Through Comparative Phylogeography of Amphibians

促进物种多样性的过程在进化生物学中具有核心重要性。缝合带被定义为多对物种或谱系之间重叠的地理区域，这些物种或谱系可能在该区域内杂交。这些地区是研究物种形成的天然实验室。解释缝合带形成的主要假说是，过去气候的变化导致谱系在避难所被孤立，随后扩展到重叠的区域。然而，目前尚不清楚缝合带是否在所有物种中都是普遍现象。该项目将结合测序技术和地理信息系统的最新进展：(1)测试预测的缝合区模式是否存在于美国东南部的多种青蛙物种中，以及(2)测试解释它们形成的主要假说。这项研究将应用一种新的数据收集方法-锚定系统基因组学，对四个共同分布的物种的数百个遗传标记进行排序。这将为未来的研究奠定基础，通过包括其他物种的相同基因组区域来建立比较数据集，提供一种强有力的方法来测试潜在的空间遗传变异因素。该项目提供了促进研究生和本科生培训的机会，协助国家野生动物机构监测两栖动物种群，并为生物对气候变化的反应等社会关注的问题贡献知识。

The processes that promote species diversity are of central importance in evolutionary biology. Suture zones are defined as geographic regions of overlap between multiple pairs of species or lineages that may hybridize in the zone. These areas are of great interest as natural laboratories to study speciation. The leading hypothesis explaining the formation of suture zones is that past changes in climate caused lineages to be isolated in refugia and subsequently expand into areas of overlap. It is unclear, however, whether suture zones are a general phenomenon across all species. This project will combine recent advances in sequencing technology and geographic information systems to: (1) test whether predicted patterns of suture zones exist across multiple frog species in the Southeastern U.S., and (2) test the leading hypothesis explaining their formation. This study will apply a novel method of data collection, anchored phylogenomics, to sequence hundreds of genetic markers across four co-distributed species. This will develop the foundation for future studies to build on a comparative dataset by including the same genomic regions for additional species, providing a powerful way to test the factors underlying spatial genetic variation. The project provides opportunities to promote training of graduate and undergraduate students, assist state wildlife agencies with monitoring amphibian populations, and contribute knowledge to issues of societal concern such as the organismal response to climate change.