Collaborative Research: Genetic variation as a driver of host and symbiont response to increased temperature on coral reefs

在珊瑚礁上，与单细胞藻类(共生藻)和珊瑚礁物种的相互作用从字面上和比喻上构成了珊瑚礁生态系统的基础。珊瑚礁是气候变化下最受威胁的生态系统之一，由于环境压力增加，即气温上升，珊瑚礁正在迅速减少。气候变化正在导致海洋温度变暖，这威胁到共生菌与其宿主之间的联系。在这个项目中，研究人员研究了共生藻的遗传多样性，以及这种重要物种对温度的反应进化的潜力。该项目还将探讨共生生物种群的生态和进化动态是否影响其宿主的表现。如果是这样的话，这表明微生物的进化具有较短的世代时间，可能会使其适应生态和经济上至关重要的珊瑚礁上的较长寄主物种。鉴于许多珊瑚礁已经失去了多样性，考虑到共生生物的进化变化将如何影响珊瑚礁物种，对于预测珊瑚礁对未来气候变化的反应至关重要。该项目为一家拉美裔服务机构的两名研究生和几名本科生提供培训。这项工作包括通过尼亚加拉水族馆、当地的K-12学校和基于网络的教育模块向学生和普通公众进行宣传。进化对当代生态过程的影响是进化生态学研究的前沿。这个项目将响应实验的号召，阐明共生生物性能中的遗传变异的影响，以及对全息生物(宿主和共生体)对温度升高的反应的影响。这些实验通过生态和进化机制研究温度的影响，并将确定在复制的实验种群中适应和驯化的相对重要性。研究人员将研究一个物种(Symbioddium Antillogorgium)内的遗传变异如何影响共生菌在培养和宿主中的表现，以及这如何影响全息细菌对温度升高的反应。此外，该项目还研究了全息细菌对气候变化引起的气温升高的反应是否取决于特定的GXG宿主-共生体组合。此外，研究人员将研究共生体历史对互惠宿主的影响，这在很大程度上被生态进化研究忽视了。这些实验为预测珊瑚礁上的无脊椎动物宿主是否会通过适应它们的共生体来应对全球变化提供了第一步。

On coral reefs, mutualisms with single celled algae (Symbiodinium) and reef species literally and figuratively form the foundation of reef ecosystems. Coral reefs are among the most threatened ecosystems under a changing climate and are rapidly declining due to increasing levels of environmental stress, namely increased temperatures. Climate change is resulting in even warmer ocean temperatures that threaten associations between Symbiodinium and their hosts. In this project the investigators examine the genetic diversity of Symbiodinium and the potential for this important species to evolve in response to temperature. The project will also address whether the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of the Symbiodinium population affect the performance of their host. If so, this suggests that the evolution of microscopic organisms with short generation times could confer adaptation to longer-lived host species on ecologically and economically vital coral reefs. Given that diversity is already being lost on many reefs, considering how evolutionary changes in Symbiodinium will affect reef species is crucial for predicting the responses of reefs to future climate change. This project provides training for two graduate students and several undergraduates at a Hispanic-serving institution. This work includes outreach to the students and the general public through the Aquarium of Niagara, local K-12 schools, and web-based education modules. The effects of evolution on contemporary ecological processes are at the forefront of research in evolutionary ecology. This project will answer the call for experiments elucidating the effects of genetic variation in Symbiodinium performance and the effect on the response of the holobiont (host and symbiont) to increased temperature. These experiments examine the effects of temperature through both ecological and evolutionary mechanisms and will determine the relative importance of adaptation and acclimatization in replicated experimental populations. The investigators will examine how genetic variation within a species (Symbiodinium antillogorgium) affects symbiont performance in culture and in the host and how this affects the response of the holobiont to increased temperature. Further, the project examines whether holobiont response to increased temperature associated with climate change depends on particular GxG host-symbiont combinations. Moreover, the investigators will examine the effects of symbiont history on mutualist hosts, which have been largely ignored in eco-evolutionary studies. These experiments provide a first step in predicting whether invertebrate hosts on coral reefs will respond to global change via adaptation of their symbionts.