This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology for FY 2008. The fellowship supports a research and training plan entitled ?The evolutionary consequences of pectoral fin functional diversity in darter fishes? for Rose L. Carlson who will be hosted by Prof. George Lauder at Harvard University.
Understanding the factors that cause changes in both the number of species as well as the morphological diversity of a lineage will likely aid in the preservation of existing biodiversity. The factors that contribute to changes in morphological diversity are most efficiently identified though phylogenetic comparative analysis of characters with known function, performance consequences, and ecological relevance in the lineage of interest. To this end, this research project first uses experimental fluid dynamics and specifically, digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV), to determine both the basic function of a fish?s pectoral fins during station-holding in flow, a previously unstudied behavior in ray-finned fishes, as well as the functional consequences of variation in pectoral fin shape among species. These data in combination with applied phylogenetic methods are then being used to quantitatively test the hypothesis that pectoral fin shape diversity evolves in concert with habitat diversity in the species rich radiation of North American freshwater fishes called darters (Percidae: Etheostomatinae), a group that includes more than fifteen endangered or threatened species. The results of the research are broadly applicable to a wide variety of fields including bioinformatics and fluid dynamics as well as evolutionary and conservation biology. In Dr. Lauder?s lab, the Fellow will receive training in biomechanics and fluid dynamics that will supplement her graduate training in applied phylogenetics and evolutionary biology.
