Dimensions: Collaborative: The climate cascade: functional and evolutionary consequences of climatic change on species, trait, and genetic diversity in a temperate ant community

维度：协作：气候级联：气候变化对温带蚂蚁群落的物种、性状和遗传多样性的功能和进化影响

• 批准号: 1136644
• 负责人: Nicholas Gotelli
• 金额: $ 68.76万
• 依托单位: University of Vermont & State Agricultural College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1136644&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dimensions; Collaborative; climate; cascade; functional

Earth's climate is rapidly changing and biodiversity is changing with it: species evolve or disappear locally, regionally, or globally. This research focuses on whether populations and species of forest ants are able to adapt to climate change and avoid local extinction. Forest ants process soil, cycle nutrients, disperse seeds of many understory plants, and respond rapidly to changes in air temperature. Samples of common ant species will be collected from forests throughout the eastern U.S. DNA sequencing and phylogenetics will be used to reconstruct their evolutionary history and to reveal particular genes that may have evolved in response to climate change. Genes will also be sequenced from ants collected from experimental sites in Massachusetts and North Carolina that have been continuously warmed for three years. In controlled laboratory experiments, ants will be exposed to a range of high temperatures predicted by climate change models, and the physiological and biochemical responses of ants will be analyzed, which can provide clues as to the adaptability of ants to increasing temperatures. The results of this research will help to understand how various physiological and biochemical traits are likely to respond to climate change, potentially enabling key species to avoid extinction. Additionally, this research program will train undergraduates and graduate students and will provide public outreach and education on the effects of climate change on biodiversity. Summer high school outreach programs for both teachers and students will be enhanced, and citizen-scientists will be engaged in documenting the effects of climate change on biodiversity.

地球的气候正在迅速变化，生物多样性也在随之变化：物种在局部、区域或全球范围内进化或消失。这项研究的重点是森林蚂蚁的种群和物种是否能够适应气候变化，避免局部灭绝。森林蚂蚁处理土壤，循环养分，传播许多林下植物的种子，并对空气温度的变化迅速作出反应。将从美国东部的森林中收集常见蚂蚁物种的样本，DNA测序和遗传学将用于重建它们的进化历史，并揭示可能为应对气候变化而进化的特定基因。还将对从马萨诸塞州和北卡罗来纳州的实验地点收集的蚂蚁进行基因测序，这些蚂蚁已经连续升温了三年。 在受控的实验室实验中，蚂蚁将暴露在气候变化模型预测的高温范围内，并分析蚂蚁的生理和生化反应，这可以为蚂蚁对温度升高的适应性提供线索。这项研究的结果将有助于了解各种生理和生化特征可能如何应对气候变化，从而可能使关键物种避免灭绝。此外，该研究计划将培训本科生和研究生，并将提供关于气候变化对生物多样性影响的公共宣传和教育。将加强针对教师和学生的暑期高中外联方案，公民科学家将参与记录气候变化对生物多样性的影响。