9321486 Rockwell The goal of this research is to develop phylogenies (genealogies) for the hawks, Falconiformes. There are three major questions to be asked: 1) Is the group a natural one, that is, are the families within the group each others' closest relatives; 2) What are the relationships among the families within Falconiformes; 3) What are the relationships among the falcons (Falconidae)? Sequence data will be collected from the mitochondrial genome. The molecular phylogenies inferred from these data will be compared with morphological ones inferred from morphological data generated by Griffths, to see how well the results match. The two data sets will then be combined for the final analyses. %%% This study will be one of the first to provide both morphological and molecular phylogenetic data by the same researcher. The results of the analyses will provide a phylogenetic framework for a wide variety of research studies on hawks, including ecological and conservation studies.
