Identifying the genes and population histories that drive rapid adaptive change and speciation

该项目将揭示遗传变异和人口统计历史，使自然种群快速适应和物种形成。它将利用印度-澳大利亚海蛇提供的强大框架和新的基因测序技术，重建基因、种群和物种的进化史。利用这些数据，它将解决相互关联的关键问题，这些问题对有效的生物多样性保护至关重要，但很少在同一分类单元中进行评估。它将讨论哪些基因变化与适应性变化和物种形成有关，这些变化是从头开始还是来自先前存在的变异，以及基因流动和种群大小的变化如何促进或限制适应和物种形成。

This project will uncover the genetic variation and demographic histories that allow rapid adaptation and speciation in natural populations. It will leverage the powerful framework provided by Indo-Australian sea snakes, and new gene sequencing technologies, to reconstruct the evolutionary histories of genes, populations and species. Using this data, it will address inter-related key questions that are critical to effective biodiversity conservation but have rarely been evaluated in the same taxon. It will address what genetic changes are involved in adaptive shifts and speciation, whether these originate de novo or from pre-existing variation and how gene flow and changes in population size promote or constrain adaptation and speciation.