EAGER: Systems Approach to Determine Adaptive Mechanisms of Thermal Tolerance in a Model Ectotherm

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Populations of coastal, estuarine species like the starlet sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis, experience large fluctuations in temperature and salinity, requiring that individuals are capable of tolerating a wide range of environmental conditions. This species is widely distributed along the Atlantic coast of North America from Nova Scotia to South Carolina, with different populations along this latitudinal gradient displaying marked differences in a number of traits. The shallow, coastal environments inhabited by this species have high societal and ecological importance, yet few studies have examined how key species are adapted to these thermally dynamic environments. This work will identify the genetic basis of the integrated physiological and behavioral responses of individuals of starlet sea anemone collected from different coastal populations and raised under thermal stress. The research will lead directly to predictions about the evolutionary forces acting in these dynamic habitats. The project includes outreach efforts at community colleges and K-12 institutions, along with research experiences for minority undergraduate students. The investigators will determine metabolic, transcriptional, and bioenergetic responses to acute and chronic temperature stress in four populations of N. vectensis. They will also identify variation in individual movement and burrowing times through rapid phenotyping using time-lapse behavioral analyses. The behavioral and physiological data will be integrated with the metabolite and gene expression assays to determine the molecular mechanisms of the bioenergetic changes and how these correlate with temperature from each geographic location. The environmental relevance of this species' broad geographic distribution in thermally dynamic environments with the unique suite of molecular, genomic and physiological toolkits allows novel tests of hypotheses about adaptation and physiological acclimation to temperature in natural populations.