Poster Presentation Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution Conference 2016

Genomics, Morphology and Ecology of the Lake Tanganyika Cichlid radiation (#390)

Fabrizia Ronco 1 , Walter Salzburger 1
  1. University of Basel, Basel, BASEL, Switzerland

The assemblage of cichlid fishes from East African Lake Tanganyika consists of about 200 described and approximately 50 un-described species and shows an extraordinary degree of morphological and ecological diversity. Thus it provides a prime model system to study adaptive radiation in general and in a comparative context in particular as it harbors extremely species-rich as well as species-poor lineages. This integrative study will provide the most comprehensive examination of a cichlid radiation combining whole genome sequencing with geometric morphometric (in 2D and 3D) and stable isotope measurements (as a proxy for ecology) of all ~250 Tanganyika cichlids. This extensive dataset provides the unique opportunity to investigate how morphological and ecological differentiation reflects the phylogenetic history in this unique adaptive radiation.