What is it about?
In this study, we generate sequence data and combine it with data available from GenBank and use this data to construct the most comprehensive species-level molecular phylogeny of gerbils and deomyines to date. We then use this molecular phylogeny to apply phylogenetic correction when testing for the relationship between bulla size with aridity (bulla inflation is common in desert animals) -- we do find a significant association even after correcting for the phylogenetic relationships among the species.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Morphological phylogenies of gerbils are often inconsistent with each other and with molecular phylogenies. Having a good understanding of the evolutionary relationships among species is important (for context) whenever one needs to conduct interspecific comparisons. Furthermore, this study shows that the commonly observed desert adaptation (bullar inflation) does stand to the rigor of phylogenetic correction, and does seem to vary in a clinal fashion with climate.
Perspectives
While molecular phylogenies are often constructed with the sole aim of determining the relationships among a particular group of organisms, this study (like many others) demonstrates how constructing a phylogeny is the first step to many subsequent interesting evolutionary and ecological questions.
Bader H Alhajeri
Kuwait University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Molecular systematics of gerbils and deomyines (Rodentia: Gerbillinae, Deomyinae) and a test of desert adaptation in the tympanic bulla, Journal of Zoological Systematics & Evolutionary Research, June 2015, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/jzs.12102.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
