Collaborative Research: RAPID - Effects of an Extreme Disturbance Event on Genomic Variation and Community Organization of Stream Insects

该项目将测试与溪流生物（昆虫）对2013年9月科罗拉多州Front Range罕见的极端洪水干扰的反应有关的假设。作为NSF先前资助的研究项目的一部分，在干扰之前从这些溪流中收集了遗传和物种组成数据。这些事件前数据允许测试特定的进化和生态假设，即极端和非季节性干扰如何选择性地去除不适应的基因型，修改遗传变异和基因频率，并通过不同物种的生存和相关的河流食物网转变重塑昆虫群落的生物组织。2014年春末将对海拔梯度在2000米以上、经历过不同程度洪水扰动的14条源头河流进行重新采样。科罗拉多州的极端洪水受到了全国媒体的关注，并将继续成为科学界和公众讨论的话题，因此这项研究可能会引起广泛的科学界和公众的兴趣。这项研究代表了一个前所未有的机会，可以发现水生昆虫对离散的极端干扰的综合遗传和生态反应的广泛而新的见解。该项目的研究结果不仅将通过专业会议和期刊传播，还将通过大众媒体和在线场所传播，以帮助提高公众对自然系统对异常大干扰的脆弱性和风险的理解，预计这种干扰在快速气候变化下将变得越来越普遍。

This project will test hypotheses related to the response of stream organisms (insects) to the extreme, rare flood disturbance of September 2013 in Colorado's Front Range. Genetic and species composition data were collected from these streams prior to the disturbance as part of a previously funded NSF research project. These pre-event data allow the testing of specific evolutionary and ecological hypotheses about how extreme and non-seasonal disturbance acts to selectively remove maladapted genotypes, to modify genetic variation and gene frequencies, and to re-shape biological organization of insect communities through differential species survival and associated transformation of stream food webs. Fourteen headwater streams that span an elevation gradient of over 2,000 meters and that experienced different degrees of flood disturbance will be re-sampled in late Spring 2014. The extreme flooding in Colorado received national media attention and continues to be a topic of scientific and public discussion, so this study will likely be of broad scientific and public interest. The research represents an unprecedented opportunity to discover broad, new insights into the integrated genetic and ecological response of aquatic insects to discrete, extreme disturbance. Findings from this project will be disseminated not only through professional meetings and journals, but also via the popular press and online venues, in order to help advance public understanding the vulnerability and risks of natural systems to unusually large disturbances of the kind predicted to become increasingly more common under rapid climate change.