Abstract DBI 9750059 Kenneth R. Petren This action funds an NSF/Alfred P. Sloan Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Molecular Evolution for 1997. These fellowships support studies involving the theoretical, comparative, computational, and/or experimental analyses of biological patterns and processes at the molecular level within the framework of organismic evolutionary change and adaptation. These studies also include the use of molecular data to address broader evolutionary questions. Each fellowship supports a research and training plan to be carried out in a sponsoring laboratory. The research and training plan for this fellowship is entitled "Genetic differentiation of hybridizing Darwin's finches." Darwin's finches are a model system for studying the interaction of natural selection and hybridization and the process of speciation. This research uses highly variable genetic markers, microsatellite loci, to verify parentage of hybrids. Long term effects of introgressive gene flow will be determined by comparing populations and species on Daphne Major and other islands of the Galapagos.
