EAPSI:Comparing geographic patterns of reproductive strategy in an invasive sea anemone between native (Japan) and invaded (US) ranges

在全球化的现代世界中，海洋生物经常被船只运送到大洋上。值得注意的是，这些生物中很少有人能够从偷渡者跃升为外国海岸上的既定殖民者。然而，那些成功的入侵可能会给它们入侵的社区带来巨大的生态和经济后果。这个项目将比较一只全球成功的海葵在日本本土范围内的繁殖行为，以及在其入侵的美国范围内观察到的行为。这种比较对于预测哪些特征有助于物种成为入侵者，以及理解自然变异如何有助于物种的传播非常重要。这项工作将与北海道大学的马修·迪克博士合作完成，他在海洋种群遗传学方面的专业知识将对该项目的成功至关重要。银莲体的无性分裂速率与水温呈正相关，与配子产量呈负相关。这些特征在美国的繁殖策略中产生了纬度梯度，在赤道种群以克隆为主的情况下，极地种群偏向有性繁殖。虽然不同种群对温度的敏感程度存在差异，但所有个体在温水中分裂得更快，在冷水中产生更多的配子。这些形式的生活史可塑性可能对解释该物种的全球成功很重要，然而，到目前为止，这些特征只在入侵范围内进行了研究。这个项目将使用普通花园生长研究和对跨越物种的种群的微卫星遗传分析的组合。了解全球入侵谱系如何很好地代表原生范围内存在的遗传和生活史变异，以期更好地了解生殖可塑性在海洋入侵中的作用。该NSF EAPSI奖支持一名美国研究生的研究，并与日本科学促进会合作提供资金。

In the globalized modern world, marine organisms are often carried across oceans by ships. Remarkably few of these creatures are able to make the leap from stow-away to established colonist on a foreign shore. However, the ones that are successful can have enormous ecological and economic consequences on the communities they invade. This project will compare the reproductive behavior of a globally successful sea anemone across its native range in Japan to that observed across its invaded US range. This comparison is important for predicting what traits help a species become an invader and for understanding how natural variation contributes to the spread of a species. This work will be done in collaboration with Dr. Matthew Dick of Hokkaido University, whose expertise in the genetics of marine populations will be essential to the success of the project. The asexual fission rate of the anemome Diadumene lineata is positively correlated with water temperature and negatively correlated with gamete production. These features produce a latitudinal gradient in reproductive strategy in the United States, with poleward populations skewed toward sexual reproduction where equatorial populations are predominantly clonal. While there is variation among populations in the degree of temperature sensitivity, all individuals divide faster in warm water and produce more gametes in cold water. These forms of life history plasticity are likely important in explaining the global success of this species, however, these features have only been studied in the invasive range thus far. This project will use a combination of common garden growth studies and microsatellite genetic analysis on populations spanning the species? native range in Japan to understand how well the globally invasive lineages represent the genetic and life history variation present in the native range, in hopes of better understanding the role of reproductive plasticity in marine invasions. This NSF EAPSI award supports the research of a U.S. graduate student and is funded in collaboration with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.