ABOUT DRP
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PARTNERSHIPS
SCIENCE RESEARCH
 » I. Research System
 » II. Research Methods
 » A. Phylogenetics
 » B. Morphometrics
 » C. SEM
 » D. X-Radiology
 » E. Development Experiments
 » F. Field Research
 » III. Caribbean Biodiversity Research
SCIENCE EDUCATION
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MULTIMEDIA RESOURCES

Phylogeny is the study of the evolutionary relationships of life, or determining life's "family tree." Knowing evolutionary relationships is an important prerequisite to asking the evolutionary-developmental research questions outlined above. For this reason phylogenetics is an important part of our lab research. We use data on morphology (skeleton, soft parts, and radula) and molecules to determine the evolutionary relationships of marginellid gastropods, especially the genera Prunum and Volvarina . Currently we are collecting taxa in order to expand upon an earlier molecular study of marginellid phylogeny based on 16s and Cytochrome Oxidase (Nehm and Simison, 1998). We are also continuing our work on refining the evolutionary relationships of extinct species of Prunum and Volvarina .