DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Scalable phylogenomics at the species level: a novel target-gene approach to tracing the global diversification of prorhynchid flatworms (Platyhelminthes)

Harvard University, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

The prorhynchid flatworms are a diverse and abundant group of predatory microscopic invertebrates living in humid soils and freshwaters on all regions of the globe. However, as is the case with most animals showing small body size, simple anatomy, and cryptic habitats, their biodiversity has gone almost entirely unstudied by modern biologists; unnamed species may outnumber the 29 species known to science by the hundreds, and their evolutionary relationships are essentially unknown. This thesis research aims to combine worldwide sampling of new and known prorhynchids with the collection of genome-wide DNA sequence data from many dozens of species to arrive for the first time at an unbiased picture of their global diversification. The purpose of this dissertation improvement grant is to support the development of a novel method to cheaply sequence hundreds of genes from arbitrarily large numbers of organisms, which will contribute to an ongoing revolution in the way biologists analyze the evolutionary relationships of closely-related species, the leaves of the tree of life. Applying this method to prorhynchids, and showcasing these and other microscopic invertebrates to undergraduate students and community members (in collaboration with a local science education organization), will serve to further engage both scientific and public interest in such organisms, the largest and simultaneously least-understood components of global animal biodiversity.