OPUS: The Structure and Dynamics of Selection on Evolving Interactions

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This project will synthesize several decades of research on how environmental change affects the genetic structure of species and interactions among species. The synthesis will draw from a wide range of studies on interactions between parasites and hosts, predators and prey, competing species, and mutualistic species. The goal is to understand how ecological and evolutionary processes alter webs of interacting species amid environmental change. The synthesis will be published as a book that will summarize the findings. The project is timely, because there is a growing scientific and societal need to understand how environmental change, including habitat fragmentation, spread of invasive species, and extinction of species, may be altering the evolution of species and their interactions with each other. Toward that end, the synthesis will include an analysis of how the accelerating pace of environmental change may be affecting the process of natural selection on the traits of species and on interactions among species. By evaluating current hypotheses and predictions, this synthesis therefore should help identify some of the most fruitful directions for future research on how changes in physical environments and biological communities foster genetic change in populations and species. In addition to publication of the scientific findings, the principal investigator is involved in multiple mentoring roles and outreach programs that will provide ways of disseminating the findings to a broader audience.