Evolution of high latitude birds

DNA标记正越来越广泛地被用于研究动物种群。遗传标记起到了标签的作用，使我们能够在很长一段时间内跟踪个体及其后代。我将使用DNA标记来研究北美山雀和啄木鸟的种群，并研究历史运动是如何导致我们今天看到的模式的。我的研究重点是，随着气候变暖，在上一次冰川期间被隔离在无冰避难所的个体如何扩展到以前的冰川地区，以及障碍如何影响他们的扩散。通过了解这些鸟类是如何对气候变化做出反应的，我们可以开始创建预测未来对栖息地碎片化和全球变暖的反应的模型。此外，它将使我们能够确定落基山脉等障碍在阻止个人行动方面的有效性。如果这些屏障限制了屏障两侧种群之间的扩散，它们将彼此隔离。经过一段时间后，孤立的种群可能会产生新的物种。确定这些障碍是什么，以及它们在限制人口之间流动方面的有效性，将使我们更好地了解人口之间是如何相互联系的。我们从鸟类那里学到的信息，可以应用于在相似环境中发现的其他物种和具有相似特征的物种。

DNA markers are becoming more widely used to study animal populations. Genetic markers act as tags that allow us to track individuals and their descendents over a long period of time. I will use DNA markers to study North American populations of chickadees and woodpeckers and examine how historical movements led to the patterns that we see today. My research focuses on how individuals isolated in ice-free refugia during the last glaciation expanded into previously glaciated areas as the climate warmed, and how their dispersal was affected by barriers. By understanding how these species of birds were able to respond to the change in climate, we can start to create models predicting future responses to habitat fragmentation and global warming. In addition, it will allow us to determine how effective barriers, such as the Rocky Mountains, are in preventing individual movement. If the barriers restrict dispersal between populations on either side of the barrier, they will be isolated from one another. Over a period of time isolated populations may give rise to new species. Determining what these barriers are, and how effective they are at limiting the movements between populations will give us a better understanding of how populations are connected to each other. The information that we learn from birds, can be applied to other species found in similar environments and species with similar characteristics.