DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Can Hormone-mediated Maternal Effects Facilitate Adaptation to Changing Environments?

生物如何适应不断变化的环境是一个贯穿所有生物学科的问题，考虑到全球气候变化的速度，这一问题尤其重要。激素浓度对环境变化高度敏感。在哺乳动物物种中，早期暴露于激素可能对后代的生理，生长速度和行为产生深远的影响。本项目的目标是研究野生红松鼠对环境变化的激素反应如何适应性地修改由于出生前暴露于可变激素的后代。红松鼠是一个理想的研究系统，以确定内分泌系统在适应不断变化的环境中的重要性，因为可以监测后代的生存和未来的繁殖。拟议的研究将整合生态学，生理学和进化，以了解动物适应不断变化的环境的机制。更广泛的影响包括进一步了解生活在北方纬度的生物如何应对全球气候变化，培训本科生实地数据收集，并允许他们参加自己的独立研究项目，以及继续与加拿大育空地区当地土著和代表性不足的群体开展外联活动。

How organisms adapt to changing environments is a question that pervades all biological disciplines and is especially relevant given the pace of global climate change. Hormone concentrations are highly sensitive to environmental variation. In mammalian species, early exposure to hormones can have profound implications on offspring physiology, growth rates, and behavior. The goal of this project is to examine how the hormonal responses of wild red squirrels to environmental variation can adaptively modify offspring due to variable hormone exposure before birth. Red squirrels are an ideal study system to determine the importance of the endocrine system in adapting to changing environments because the survival and future reproduction of offspring can be monitored.The proposed research will integrate ecology, physiology, and evolution to understand the mechanisms by which animals can adapt to changing environments. Broader impacts include furthering our understanding about how organisms living at northern latitudes can respond to global climate change, training undergraduate students in field data collection as well as allowing them to participate in their own independent research projects, and continuing outreach activities with local aboriginal and underrepresented groups in the Yukon, Canada.