DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Investigating the evolution of phalangerid marsupials in Sulawesi by incorporating morphology, molecular phylogenomics and biogeographical modeling

George Mason University, Fairfax VA

Investigators

Abstract

The island of Sulawesi has long been recognized for its highly distinctive and endemic vertebrate fauna; however, scientists have not been able to determine how or when many of these animals arrived on the island or what drove their remarkable diversification. This deficit of understanding has been due in part to uncertainty surrounding relationships among the animals themselves and the difficulty of reconstructing the island's highly complex geological history. For many taxa, intra-island diversification patterns remain unclear due to a lack of sufficient geographic sampling. This study will evaluate the temporal and geographic patterns of colonization and intra-island diversification of terrestrial mammals on Sulawesi by using cuscus marsupials as a model system. Reconstructing the evolutionary relationships among cuscuses across this region will help elucidate the historical biogeography of Sulawesi. This research will significantly broaden the professional and technical development of an early career female scientist, who will also train and co-advise an undergraduate student. This project will test the hypothesis that microplate tectonics during the formation of Sulawesi and habitat fragmentation in the Pleistocene drove diversification in the Ailuropinae (Phalangeridae, Marsupialia). Extensive inter- and intra-island sampling with be achieved by using existing museum collections and novel methods of extracting ancient DNA. The researchers will incorporate traditional morphological techniques to distinguish and describe taxa along with phylogenomic methods to reconstruct their evolutionary relationships. Biogeographical modeling will then be used to assess the likelihood of different geographical speciation scenarios. Using these results as a framework, the researchers will then produce a taxonomic revision of the subfamily.