This project involves the extraction, amplification, and sequencing of mitochondrial DNA from a diverse assemblage of extinct primates from Madagascar. These giant lemurs began to disappear approximately 2000 years ago, a process that was completed with their final extinction within the past several hundred years. The evolutionary origins of these animals are as mysterious as their disappearance. The proposed research will employ ancient DNA techniques to investigate both their origins and their demise. The initial focus of the project will be on reconstructing the phylogenetic relationships among and between the extinct and living lemuriforms. The results will be significant for understanding morphological and ecological evolution in a remarkably diverse group of mammals as well as for understanding the biogeographic history of Madagascar and Africa. Patterns of genetic diversity within extinct lemur populations will also be examined to the extent possible. As dwindling diversity is almost certainly characteristic of living lemuriform populations, it seems expedient to explore the genetic patterns of a known extinction event with an eye towards avoiding such crises in the future. The results of the project will add to a growing body of information relevant to the study of DNA change over time. This increasingly valuable field has applications for disciplines as diverse as the analysis and control of organic pathogens (e.g., the AIDS virus), biogeography, phylogenetics, physiology, and conservation biology, just to name a few.
