DISSERTATION RESEARCH: A genomic and experimental characterization of local adaptation

自然界提供了一个非生物和生物因素的可变性马赛克。这通常导致一个物种的种群根据当地条件进化出特征，这些特征使该原生栖息地的个体具有优势，而不是其他栖息地。了解推动这种地方适应的过程对于预测物种在快速环境变化中的命运至关重要。随着温度的升高，许多物种正在改变它们的活动范围，向极地或更高海拔的地方移动，但海洋物种也面临海洋酸化的风险-由于从大气中吸收二氧化碳，海洋pH值持续下降。对于海洋双壳类来说尤其如此，它们需要特定的碳酸盐化学物质来形成它们的外壳。北美西海岸的海洋pH值和温度存在长期的自然变化;因此，一些广泛分布的物种种群可能包含在低pH值和较高温度地区进化的适应性。这可能为科学家提供关于在快速气候变暖事件期间物种基因组的哪些部分可能受到选择的见解，或者突出显示适应这些条件的基因组区域。该研究为研究生提供培训，并为商业，政府，非政府组织和公共利益相关者提供额外的宣传。 这项拟议中的研究将测试奥林匹亚牡蛎（Ostrea lurida）是否适应了环境的变化。这种在生态和商业上都很重要的双壳类，从加州南部到加拿大中部海岸呈斑块状分布。 使用人口基因组分析和共同的花园实验，拟议的研究将测试不同的和单独的人口之间的适应性差异，从旧金山弗朗西斯科湾，加利福尼亚州，库斯湾，OR，普吉特湾，华盛顿州，和温哥华岛，不列颠哥伦比亚省。野生牡蛎的后代将提出在共同的条件下，研究的差异，生长速度，生存，并诱导应力从温度和pH值。转录组学将被用来表征基因表达的隐性变异，并确定参与适应这些压力的基因。

Nature provides a mosaic of variability in both abiotic and biotic factors. This often results in populations of a species evolving traits in response to local conditions that give an advantage to individuals in that native habitat but not in other habitats. Understanding the processes that drive such local adaptation is crucial to predicting the fate of species in the face of rapid environmental change. Many species are shifting their ranges to move poleward or to higher altitude sites as temperatures increase, but marine species are also at risk from ocean acidification - the ongoing decrease in ocean pH due to the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This is especially true for marine bivalves, who require specific carbonate chemistry to form their shells. The west coast of North America has natural long-standing variation in ocean pH and temperature; therefore, it is possible that some populations of wide-spread species could contain adaptations that have evolved in areas with low pH and higher temperatures. This may provide insight to scientists on what portions of the genome may be under selection in species during rapid climate warming events or highlight areas of the genome that have adapted to those conditions. The research provides training to a graduate student and additional outreach to commercial, government, non-governmental organizations, and public stakeholders. The proposed research will test whether adaptation to environmental variability has occurred in the Olympia oyster (Ostrea lurida). This ecologically and commercially important bivalve is patchily distributed from southern California up to the central coast of Canada. Using population genomic analyses and common garden experiments, the proposed research will test for adaptive differences among distinct and separate populations from San Francisco Bay, CA, Coos Bay, OR, Puget Sound, WA, and Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Offspring of wild oysters will be raised under common conditions and studied for differences in growth rate, survival, and response to induced stress from temperature and pH. Transcriptomics will be used to characterize cryptic variation in gene expression and identify genes involved in adaptation to theses stressors.