大鼠族（啮齿目:鼠亚科）的适应辐射与不同生态型代表种类的群体遗传学研究

The accelerated biodiversity loss of small mammals highlighted the importance of research on the origination, evolution, dispersal and demographic dynamics of rodents. Rattini (Rodentia: Murinae) represents the most successful mammals that showed adaptive radiation in Asia since the late Miocene. The phylogeny and taxonomy, as well as population status of most species within this taxon remain poorly studied. In the present study, we are going to study on this taxon by integrating materials and well established techniques from cooperators who are come from the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Natural History Museum and Imperial College of London, and the Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences. We propose to revise the taxonomy, reconstruct the phylogeny, recalibrate the divergence time, and explore the population genetics of different ecotypes in Rattini. By integrating traditional morphometrics and geometric morphometrics as well as techniques implemented in Geographical Information System (GIS), we want to interpret the morphological evolution of this taxon at the macro-evolutionary scale. Based on these studies, we aim to provide a novel perspective on the species of this taxon in China and its vicinity, to reconstruct a robust tree of Rattini, to reveal evolutionary schemes of important traits and functional structures in these animals, to explore the mechanisms underlying the ecological amplitudes of different eco-types, and to understand the future population dynamics of different eco-types.

小型哺乳动物生物多样性的加速丧失使研究啮齿类动物的起源、演化和种群动态变得紧迫。大鼠族是亚洲最为成功的哺乳动物类群，在中新世晚期实现辐射演化，与人类健康和生态安全密切相关。这一类群的系统演化与分类及大量物种的种群现状研究较为薄弱。本项目拟整合中国科学院动物研究所、英国自然历史博物馆及帝国理工大学和俄罗斯科学院动物研究所三方合作伙伴已掌握的研究材料和先进技术对这一类群开展研究。本研究计划对大鼠族开展系统的分类学厘定，综合利用第一代和第二代测序技术对其系统发育关系进行重建；结合形态测量和几何形态学的方法对重要形态特征和功能器官的演化进行分析；并对不同生态型代表种类的谱系生物地理学和种群演化历史进行比较研究。研究结果旨在掌握中国及周边分布物种的基础数据，构建更加准确的大鼠族生命之树，阐明环境因子和系统发育关系在重要形态学特征演化中发挥的作用，明晰不同生态型代表物种的种群演化历史和未来发展趋势。

在本项目执行过程中，我们重点以大鼠族分布最广、物种最多的白腹鼠属、大鼠属和小泡巨鼠属等为研究对象，厘清这些类群中国及周边分布物种；阐明整个类群的历史生物地理学起源和扩散过程，不同物种的生态位分化进程，种群历史动态和不同历史时期潜在分布区的历史变迁。迄今为止，我们总共已经发表科研论文19篇,其中SCI论文16篇，代表性论文发表在Molecular Biology and Evolution, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences等杂志。此外，我们还参与《中国兽类分类与分布》专著部分章节编写，采集啮齿类标本2000余号，并完成常规分子测序和形态鉴定工作，产生基因组数据5T左右。这些研究为课题组在编《中国动物志.第五卷》鼠科的编研奠定了坚实基础，也为我们后续涉及啮齿类关键进化规律研究的开展积累了重要数据。