Phylogenetics, biogeography, and evolution of fishes

这项研究使用DNA序列来重建进化史，目的是了解物种在自然界中是如何多样化的。我们关注的是一种来自南美洲的鱼，裸子形刀鱼，它们可以利用高度专业化的电器官和电感受器产生并探测到微小的电场。这些电场用于导航和通信，电刀鱼可以在完全黑暗的环境中正常工作。此外，不同种类的刀鱼有不同的电信号，这表明物种通过它们的信号来识别彼此。为了了解200种裸子形刀鱼是如何进化的，我们正在利用核和线粒体基因序列构建进化树。这些进化树将被用来理解地理在促进物种形成中的作用，以及当物种形成时电信号是如何进化的。该研究结果与进化生物学和生态学以及神经生物学相关，其中裸子形刀鱼是重要的模式生物。通过对鱼类生物多样性的研究，为保护生物学提供了有价值的数据。

This research uses DNA sequences to reconstruct evolutionary history, with the aim of understanding how species diversify in the natural world. We focus on a group of fishes from South America, the gymnotiform knifefishes, that can produce and detect minute electrical fields using highly specialized electric organs and electroreceptors. These electric fields are used for both navigation and communication, and electric knifefishes can operate quite normally in total darkness. Also, different species of knifefishes have different electric signals, suggesting that species recognize each other using their signals. To understand how the 200 species of gymnotiform knifefishes have evolved, we are building evolutionary trees using nuclear and mitochondrial gene sequences. These evolutionary trees will be used to understand the role of geography in promoting speciation, as well as how electric signals evolve when speciation occurs. The results of this study have relevance for evolutionary biology and ecology, as well as for neurobiology, where gymnotiform knifefishes are important model organisms. By studying the biodiversity of fishes, we provide valuable data for conservation biology.