L. Lacey Knowles talks with
ScienceWatch.com and answers a few questions about
this month's Fast Breaking Paper in the field of
Environment & Ecology.
Article Title: Delimiting species without
monophyletic gene trees
Authors: Knowles,
LL;Carstens, BC
Journal: SYST BIOL
Volume: 56
Issue: 6
Page: 887-895
Year: DEC 2007
* Univ Michigan, Museum Zool, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary
Biol, 1109 Geddes Ave, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA.
* Univ Michigan, Museum Zool, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary
Biol, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA.
Why do you think your paper is highly cited? Does
it describe a new discovery, methodology, or synthesis of
knowledge?
There is tremendous interest in the use of genetic data for distinguishing
species. The paper describes a new framework in which genetic data can be
used to delimit species. The approach differs from past methods in that it
is based on an explicit model of species divergence, as opposed to relying
on arbitrary criteria for making inferences about species boundaries. As a
consequence, it provides an approach for species delimitation which doesn't
require that species exhibit monophyletic gene trees.
Would you summarize the significance of your paper in
layman's terms?
"As species are being lost at an
alarming rate and the fate of many taxa rests
on conservation initiatives, the need for
accurate species delimitation has never been
greater."
Genetic data can offer a valuable tool for identifying species. However,
the way in which genetic data is interpreted can lead to misleading
conclusions, and specifically a failure to recognize species.
Unlike previous methods, the approach described in our paper explicitly
considers how patterns of genetic variation change over time following the
formation of new species. Such an approach is not only effective at
inferring species boundaries, but it also avoids the problems associated
with previous methods that rely on arbitrary levels of genetic
distinctiveness for delimiting species.
How did you become involved in this research, and were
there any problems along the way?
My research focuses on groups of taxa that have recently speciated. Because
of their recent origin, such taxa would not be recognized based on previous
genetic methods that rely on arbitrary levels of genetic distinctiveness
for delimiting species. Given that population genetic models are routinely
employed to make inferences about the demographic and biogeographic past,
it seemed that such models could naturally be extended to the species
delimitation problem.
Where do you see your research leading in the
future?
In the future, the framework developed for genetic data could be used to
incorporate the temporal dynamics of morphological and behavioral data. In
such a context, the lack of concordance of genetic, morphological, and
behavioral data arising from differences in rates of change among data
types can be distinguished from true conflict among data sets. Such a
framework would represent a significant step towards a unified approach for
species delimitation.
Do you foresee any social or political implications for
your research?
As species are being lost at an alarming rate and the fate of many taxa
rests on conservation initiatives, the need for accurate species
delimitation has never been greater. Genetic data has the potential to
significantly aid in this endeavor. However, methodological approaches need
to take into account how patterns of genetic variation change over time to
avoid misleading inferences about species boundaries.
L. Lacey Knowles
Associate Professor and Curator of Insects
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI, USA Web
Related information:Read a New Hot Paper comment from Lacey Knowles from
March 2004.
Keywords: genetic data can be used to delimit species, species
divergence, species delimitation, monophyletic gene trees.