OPUS: The ecological basis of coevolutionary history

University Of Utah, Salt Lake City UT

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this project is to write a book summarizing 25 years of NSF-funded research, that will explore the influence of natural selection and other micro-evolutionary (short term) forces on macro-evolutionary (longer term) patterns. The book will focus largely on a model study system consisting of birds, feather-feeding lice, and symbiotic bacteria in the lice. The authors are particularly interested in how natural selection acting among these groups influences patterns of joint speciation and diversification. The book will synthesize results from over 50 papers published by the investigators over the past 25 years. It will include re-analyses of data in light of more recent studies and comment on a similar evolutionary patterns in a range of other systems. The proposed volume will synthesize one of the most integrative studies of co-evolutionary dynamics, to date, ranging from extensive work on ecological interactions to the explanation of long-term evolutionary patterns. Major conclusions and fun examples from the book will be disseminated to Utah K-12 teachers and students in collaboration with the Utah Museum of Natural History, where the lead investigator is an adjunct curator. The PIs will also create a new "teaching toolbox" - and conduct associated workshops - concerning host-parasite co-evolution.