EAGER: The causes and consequences of clonal diversity in spatially and temporally varying metapopulations

该项目解决了生态学和进化交叉点上的一个关键问题：什么样的生态因素维持了生态系统中关键物种的遗传变异，以及遗传变异如何反馈食物网相互作用，从而影响生态系统结构和功能的时间变化？ 该项目通过明确考虑景观生态群落的空间变化，进一步将这个问题扩展到元生态性的角度。 研究的重点是蚤状水蚤，这是一种常见的食草物种的浮游动物在淡水池塘。 水蚤通过兼性孤雌生殖进行繁殖，种群由不同的克隆组成，这些克隆具有不同的生态特征。 分子遗传学方法将被用来量化不同池塘种群内和之间的空间和时间克隆变异。 关于这种克隆变异与生态功能的关系的假设将在田间围隔生态系统中进行的操纵实验中进行检验。 据推测，克隆体之间存在差异的一个特征是它们的耐热性;实验将测试这种差异在使种群适应气候变暖方面的重要性。 这项研究雄心勃勃，风险很大，但也有很大的潜力产生可能对生态科学产生变革性影响的结果。 该项目将为本科生和研究生提供水生进化生态学的研究培训，包括来自代表性不足群体的个人。 该项目的结果将有助于了解气候变暖将如何影响水生栖息地以及生物多样性和生态系统过程之间的关系。 该项目为处于职业生涯早期阶段的初级调查员提供支助。

This project addresses a critical question at the intersection of ecology and evolution: what ecological factors maintain genetic variation within a keystone species in an ecosystem and how does that genetic variation feedback on food web interactions to influence temporal variation in the structure and function of ecosystems? This project further extends that question to a metacommunity perspective by explicitly considering spatial variation in ecological communities across a landscape. The research focuses on Daphnia pulex, which is a common grazer species of zooplankton in freshwater ponds. Daphnia reproduce by facultative parthenogenesis and populations are composed of different clones known to vary in ecological traits. Molecular genetic approaches will be used to quantify spatial and temporal clonal variation within and among different pond populations. Hypotheses concerning the relationship of this clonal variation to ecological function will be tested in manipulative experiments conducted in field mesocosms. One trait that is hypothesized to vary among clones is their thermal tolerance; experiments will test for the significance of this variation in enabling populations to adapt to climate warming. This research is ambitious and risky, but also has high potential to produce results that could be transformative to the science of ecology. This project is being funded as an EAGER: Early concept Grant for Exploratory Research.This project will provide research training in aquatic evolutionary ecology for undergraduate and graduate students, including individuals from underrepresented groups. The results from this project will aid in understanding how climate warming will impact aquatic habitats and the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem processes. The project provides support to a beginning investigator at an early career stage.