This study will examine processes that lead to the diversification of species -- in number, form and ecology. First, a phylogeny of the Madagascar pseudoxyrhophiine snakes will be produced. This highly diverse group of vertebrates, with more than 130 species, occurs in arboreal, terrestrial, fossorial, and aquatic habitats, as well as tropical rainforests, mountain forests, swamps, grasslands and deserts. Using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) techniques to generate hundreds of genes, the first comprehensive phylogeny of this snake group will be produced. Second, the phylogeny will be integrated with morphological and ecological data (including remotely-sensed data and GIS), in a computationally intense framework, to reveal how species, ecology and morphology evolve together over time and to examine the processes associated with adaptive radiations.
This project will also train undergraduates, doctoral students, and a postdoctoral researcher. Results will be widely communicated to the public via the American Museum of Natural History's Science Bulletin, CUNY's TV Program "Study with the Best", and other formats. In addition to revealing complex evolutionary processes, results of this research will also have valuable conservation applications for this group of snakes.
