The role of behaviour in the adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes from Lake Tanganyika.

解开复杂的物种形成过程和确定决定物种多样性的因素仍然是生物学中最重要和最具挑战性的努力之一。研究具有极高物种丰富度的生物群体可能是理解生物多样性如何产生和维持的关键。非洲五大湖中的慈鲷鱼是本提案的重点，代表了当今已知的最大的脊椎动物适应性辐射，数百种特有物种以无与伦比的高物种形成率进化。拟议项目的目的是调查在坦噶尼喀湖慈鲷的大规模适应性辐射的背景下，种间变异在基本行为模式中的作用。更具体地说，我打算评估一致的行为特征，特别注重探索的趋势，大量的慈鲷物种（包括物种丰富和物种贫乏的血统），并整合此行为数据与可用的全基因组和大脑转录组序列，以及与现有的生态形态信息的各个物种。这种彻底的方法建立在主机实验室的专业知识与研究系统和已建立的资源，以及我自己的经验，在淡水鱼的一致行为特征的研究。该项目将首次深入了解行为如何有助于物种的多样化倾向。

The unravelling of the complex process of speciation and the identification of factors that determine species diversity remains one of the most important and challenging endeavors in biology. To study groups of organisms that are characterized by an exceptionally high species-richness could be key to the understanding of how organismal diversity is generated and maintained. The cichlid fishes in the African Great Lakes, which are in the focus of this proposal, represent the largest vertebrate adaptive radiations known today, with hundreds of endemic species having evolved with unparalleled high speciation rates. The aim of the proposed project is to investigate the role of inter-specific variation in basic behavioural patterns in the context of the massive adaptive radiation of cichlids in Lake Tanganyika. More specifically, I intend to assess consistent behavioural traits, with a particular focus on the exploration tendency, of a large number of cichlid species (comprising species-rich and species-poor lineages) and to integrate this behavioural data with available whole-genome and brain transcriptome sequences as well as with existing eco-morphological information of the respective species. This thorough approach builds up on the host lab’s expertise with the study system and the resources that have been established there as well as on my own experience in the study of consistent behavioural traits in freshwater fishes. This project will provide first in-depth insights into how behaviour contributes to the species’ propensity to diversify.