Evolutionary and Conservation Genetics of Reptiles and Polar Bears

理解物种进化的分子方法带来了令人瞩目的发现。例如，与野生物种关系密切的雌性通常是并排的，而不是广泛地与同一物种中关系较远的雌性混合在一起。在墨西哥的下加利福尼亚州，大多数动物物种在半岛中部表现出邻近血统的模式。它们已经在一起生活了300多万年，没有混合，在某些情况下，它们的时间要长得多。这项研究的一个关键焦点是确定原因。一种假设认为，这两种血统没有混合，是因为当它们混合时，它们产生能量的酶不能有效地工作。另一种可能性是，女性保护她们的家庭免受入侵者的侵扰，这可能被称为姐妹关系假说。以树蜥蜴为模型动物的一系列实验将被用来评估每一种机制在维持并排母系血统模式方面所发挥的相对作用。这些分析不仅对理解物种如何进化有意义，而且对保护和管理倡议也有影响，特别是当它们与物种易位有关时。

Molecular approaches to understanding the evolution of species have led to remarkable discoveries. For example, closely related females of wild species are often side-by-side rather than being broadly mixed with more distantly related females of the same species. In Baja California, Mexico, most species of animals show a pattern of neighbouring lineages on the middle of the peninsula. These have lived side-by-side for more than 3 million years without mixing and in some cases for a much longer period of time. A key focus of this research is to determine why. One hypothesis suggests that the lineages do not mix because their energy-producing enzymes do not work efficiently when they are mixed. Another possibility is that females protect their families against intruders, perhaps termed as the sisterhood hypothesis. A suite of experiments using tree lizards as model animals will be used to evaluate the relative roles played by each of these mechanisms in maintaining the pattern of side-by-side maternal lineages, if any. The analyses have implications for not only understanding how species evolve, but also for conservation and management initiatives, especially as they relate to species translocations.