Evolution of high latitude birds

DNA标记越来越广泛地用于研究动物种群。基因标记就像标签一样，让我们能够在很长一段时间内追踪个体及其后代。我将使用DNA标记来研究北美的山雀和啄木鸟种群，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，在最后一次冰期被隔离在无冰避难所的个体如何扩展到以前的冰期地区，以及它们的扩散如何受到屏障的影响。通过了解这些鸟类如何应对气候变化，我们可以开始创建模型，预测未来对栖息地破碎和全球变暖的反应。此外，它将使我们能够确定障碍物，如落基山脉，在阻止个人移动方面的效果如何。如果屏障限制了屏障两侧种群之间的传播，它们就会彼此隔离。经过一段时间，孤立的种群可能产生新的物种。确定这些障碍是什么，以及它们在限制种群之间流动方面的效果如何，将使我们更好地了解种群之间是如何相互联系的。我们从鸟类身上学到的信息，可以应用于在相似环境中发现的其他物种，以及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.