9726064 Larson Endemic species are those that are found only in very small areas. They may be of conservation concern especially if their small habitat areas are altered or come under threat. It is thought that endemic species may form in one of several ways. In one of these mechanisms, a population of a species becomes separated from other populations by geological changes (e.g. formation of new mountain ranges, land bridges across open water), and this isolated population becomes a new species. This species-forming process can be traced, in theory, by examining the history (phylogeny) of the species and the earth history of the region in which the species occur. In this project, Allan Larson, J. Robert Macey and Theodore Papenfuss will examine the phylogenetic relationships of selected groups of fish, lizards and snakes that have endemic species in one or more of the Central Asian deserts. These deserts have arisen through relatively recent and dramatic earth history events. The researchers will reconstruct the phylogeny of the species in these groups by analyzing DNA sequences. The phylogenies will then be interpreted in the context of the geographic history of the desert regions, to determine whether there is a direct relationship between the geological events forming a region and the appearance of an endemic species in that region. The research, which involves several scientists and students in countries encompassing the desert regions, should lead to a broader understanding of how endemic species are formed and persist.
