Collaborative Research: Understanding Large-Scale Patterns of Ecomorph Evolution

生物学的一个基本目标是了解生命的多样性。一些最有趣的多样性涉及生态形态，这是不同的物种进化到具有相似的身体形式和行为，以适应相同的生态位。众所周知，相同的生态形态通常会独立进化多次，但对于如何解释生态形态进化的总体模式却知之甚少。例如，一些生态形态之间的进化变化是否比其他形态更普遍？如何解释这些差异？在这个项目中，一种新的、综合的方法将被开发出来，以青蛙作为模型系统来探索这些关于进化的基本问题。该方法结合了重建物种祖先（即它们的进化关系）、物种生态学、身体形态、生理表现（它们跳跃、游泳和攀爬的能力）和地理分布的数据。这项研究将首次探索这些不同的因素如何解释这一主要生物群体的生态形态进化的大规模模式。为了解决这些因素，研究人员将开发可应用于任何一组生物的统计工具。关于使用遗传数据重建进化树的方法的一般问题也将得到解决。该项目将支持本科生、研究生和博士后研究人员在不同学科和技术方面的培训。培训还将包括暑期本科生研究经历，学生将从历史上代表性不足的群体中招募。将向公众提供有关该项目的目标、成果和影响的宣传讲座和视频。这个项目有两个主要目标。首先，将利用来自超保守元件和现有超矩阵的新系统基因组数据，开发新的大规模无尾猿系统发育。关于系统基因组分析方法的紧迫和一般问题也将被解决。其次，研究人员将估计生态形态的转变模式，并测试解释这些模式的因素。具体来说，研究人员将从博物馆标本中收集约2500个物种的形态学数据。他们还将收集来自北美、欧洲、非洲和马达加斯加的65个目标物种的新性能数据，并将其与来自亚洲、澳大利亚、北美和南美的63个物种的现有性能数据相结合。将获得关于微生境的数据，并在新的系统发育背景下进行分析，以估计微生境相关生态形态之间的过渡率。然后将测试几种假设，以解释为什么生态形态之间的过渡率不同，包括与生态形态形态、功能性能、多样化率和生物地理有关的假设。数据将来自科学文献、科学收集的标本以及在北美、欧洲和非洲的实地考察。

A fundamental goal of biology is to understand the diversity of life. Some of the most interesting diversity involves ecomorphs, which are different species that have evolved to have similar body forms and behaviors that adapt them to the same ecological niche. It is known that the same ecomorph often evolves independently many times, but little is known about what explains overall patterns of ecomorph evolution. For example, is evolutionary change between some ecomorphs more common than others, and what explains these differences? In this project, a new, integrative approach will be developed to explore these fundamental questions about evolution, using frogs as a model system. The approach combines reconstructing species ancestry, (i.e., their evolutionary relationships), with data on species ecology, body morphology, physiological performance (how well they jump, swim, and climb), and their geographic distribution. This study will provide the first exploration of how these different factors explain large-scale patterns of ecomorph evolution across this major group of organisms. To address these factors, the investigators will develop statistical tools that can be applied to any group of organisms. General questions about the methods used to reconstruct evolutionary trees with genetic data will also be addressed. This project will support training of undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers in a diversity of disciplines and techniques. The training will also include a summer undergraduate research experience, with students recruited from historically underrepresented groups. Outreach talks and a video on the project's goals, results, and implications will be delivered to public audiences. This project has two major objectives. First, a new large-scale phylogeny of anurans will be developed, using new phylogenomic data from ultraconserved elements and existing supermatrices. Urgent and general questions about the methodology of phylogenomic analyses will also be addressed. Second, the investigators will estimate patterns of transitions in ecomorphs and test the factors that explain these patterns. Specifically, researchers will collect morphological data from museum specimens for ~2,500 species. They will also collect new performance data for 65 targeted species from North America, Europe, Africa, and Madagascar, and add this to their existing performance data for 63 species from Asia, Australia, and North and South America. Data will be obtained on microhabitats and analyzed in the context of the new phylogeny to estimate transition rates among microhabitat-associated ecomorphs. Several hypotheses will then be tested about why transition rates differ among ecomorphs, including hypotheses related to ecomorph morphology, functional performance, diversification rates, and biogeography. Data will come from the scientific literature, specimens from scientific collections, and fieldwork in North America, Europe, and Africa.