This research involves a detailed phylogenetic study of North American cyprinid fishes using a combination of morphological features and nucleotide sequences of mitochondria ribosomal genes. This phylogeny will be used to establish a stable classification of these fishes and to examine patterns of morphological, ecological, and behavioral diversity within this important group of fishes. Cyprinid fishes form a major component of aquatic ecosystems in North America, representing nearly 30 of the fish fauna. Therefore, it is important to understand the biological diversity of this group. A more reliable understanding of the relationships of these fishes will contribute greatly to our understanding of the biogeography, ecology, and behavior of this importantgroup of fishes. In addition, this research will help identify unique populations and species, a requisite for any management scheme directed toward the conservation of aquatic ecosystems in North America.The botanical and ichthyological collections at the University of Alabama are an important national and regional resource for education and research in environmental biology. This support will enable significant and needed enhancement of these collections and research activities through the provision of a mobile compactor system for the collections and research equipment for a new Molecular Systematics Laboratory. The collections and the laboratory will be housed in a new 17,000 sq ft space within a new Scientific Collection Facility (112,000 sq ft) being built by the University at a cost of $8 million, which will allow centralization of all University, Museum and Geological Survey collections and associated molecular research. This support will relieve collection crowding, provide for 5 years of collection growth, and considerably expand the educational and research potential of the new molecular laboratory.North American fish fauna provides an informative, natural laboratory useful in investigations of comparative, evolutionary, and -- phylogenetic relationships. Without these data the fauna is rendered inaccessible for direct estimates of community formation, evolutionary ecology, and modes and rates of speciation. Fishes of the family Percidae represent one of the most diverse groups in North America, yet relationships among many of the species are poorly known. The objectives of this study are to test previous biogeographic and evolutionary relationships hypothesis for several darter species, using starch gel electrophoresis and phylogenetic analyses. Relationships within and between the target species are extremely useful in resolving recently constructed area (river) cladograms for many drainages in eastern North America that dated the origin of the fauna well before the Pleistocene. The study will focus on two wide-spread species of the percid genus Etheostoma, the relationships of species within thesubgenus Etheostoma (genus Etheostoma), and the phyletic affinities of this clade to the subgenus Ulocentra (or Nanostoma). The potential gains of the study are not restricted to revised taxonomy and relationships of traditionally confusing group. The analysis will supply both a framework for future systematic studies in percid fishes and improve our understanding of evolutionary biology.The sturgeon family of bony fish (Acipenseridae) includes several species of commercial value, long sought after by humans of many cultures. Nearly all of these species are in need of immediate conservation measures. Among the most imperiled are sturgeonspecies in the subfamily Scaphirhynchinae, genera Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. The subfamily is endemic to North America and Central Asia. Conservation efforts are hampered by an inadequate knowledge of the taxonomy, systematics and ecology of these fish, in particular by the uncertainty of species boundaries and the likelihood that undescribed species are present. This proposal is an international partnership among scientists of the United States, Russia and Uzbekistan. Principal investigators Mayden and Birstein, with their colleagues, will examine morphological characteristics of sturgeon in the subfamily Scaphirhynchinae, and use these characters to evaluate, and revise where necessary, the taxonomy and systematics of these fish. The revised taxonomy will then more effectively inform conservation activities.
Environmental Biology, Life Science Biological, Res Collections in Syst & Ecol, Reserch Collects in Syst & Eco, Systematics, Systematics & Population Biolo
