Collaborative Research: Human-induced Phenotypic Variation in an Endemic Livebearing Fish

合作研究：人为诱导的特有活鱼表型变异

• 批准号: 0842364
• 负责人: Lawrence Weider
• 金额: $ 27.32万
• 依托单位: University of Oklahoma Norman Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-08-01 至 2013-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0842364&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Human; induced; Phenotypic

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).One of the most critical threats to biological diversity is the habitat fragmentation and degradation caused by human activities. Significant advances in our understanding of the ecological effects of human activities have been made in recent years, however the evolutionary impacts of human-induced environmental changes are still largely unknown. This research program will investigate the effects of habitat fragmentation in a group of small fish in the Bahamas. The work combines field surveys, analysis of body form/musculature, whole-organism performance trials, laboratory-rearing experiments, and DNA studies to examine whether ecosystem fragmentation drives predictable and rapid evolution of body form and swimming performance.Estuary fragmentation is widespread in the Bahamas. This fragmentation results from construction of roads without effective tidal flow-conveyance structures, such as bridges or culverts. The resulting rapid and dramatic changes to these coastal systems leads to predictions of substantially altered natural selection regimes for resident organisms. This study will use evolutionary theory to develop and test predictions regarding changes in species traits following fragmentation, centering on endemic fishes, Bahamas Gambusia. The work will test the predictability of evolution in the face of anthropogenic impacts, as well as the ability of ecological restoration efforts to restore previous evolutionary trajectories. This project will integrate science and education in a variety of ways. In addition to training at least seven undergraduate students, the work will create a new outreach program, ?Everyday Evolution.? This program will be integrated with the science curriculum of a Bahamian high school, hopefully initiating a longer-term, and more wide-reaching educational module designed to teach the fundamentals of ecology and evolution to high-school students. With an understanding of evolution so low for much of the general public, there is no better time to demonstrate how natural processes can lead to rapid evolution, and how evolutionary ecologists rigorously test well-articulated hypotheses.

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。对生物多样性最严重的威胁之一是人类活动造成的栖息地破碎和退化。 近年来，我们对人类活动的生态影响的认识取得了重大进展，但人类引起的环境变化对进化的影响在很大程度上仍然未知。 这项研究计划将调查巴哈马群岛一组小鱼栖息地破碎化的影响。这项工作结合了实地调查，体型/肌肉组织分析，整体生物性能试验，实验室饲养实验和DNA研究，以研究生态系统碎片化是否会推动体型和游泳性能的可预测和快速进化。 造成这种破碎的原因是建造的道路没有有效的潮汐流输送结构，如桥梁或涵洞。 由此产生的快速和戏剧性的变化，这些沿海系统导致的预测，大大改变了自然选择制度的居民生物。 这项研究将使用进化理论来发展和测试预测的物种特征的变化后，碎片，集中在特有的鱼类，巴哈马食蚊鱼。 这项工作将测试人类影响下进化的可预测性，以及生态恢复工作恢复以前进化轨迹的能力。 该项目将以多种方式整合科学和教育。 除了培训至少7名本科生，这项工作将创建一个新的推广计划，？每日进化？ 该方案将与巴哈马一所高中的科学课程相结合，希望启动一个长期、更广泛的教育模块，旨在向高中学生教授生态学和进化的基础知识。 由于大多数公众对进化的理解如此之低，没有比这更好的时间来证明自然过程如何导致快速进化，以及进化生态学家如何严格检验明确的假设。