EAPSI: Population Dynamics of a Semi-Terrestrial Fishes Across the South and East China Sea

大多数鱼类仅限于水生环境，但包括弹涂鱼在内的32，000条鳍鱼中约有70条是两栖的，或者能够在陆地环境中生存，通常是为了繁殖。这种行为很重要，因为许多沿海地区都受到海堤、光和噪音污染、城市化和泥滩/沿海土地破坏的栖息地破坏，使沿海栖息地在一段时间内不适合居住。随着时间的推移，无法在大的地理区域内殖民沿海地区可能会危及物种的生存。虽然两栖动物的生活史限制了它们在特定生命阶段的扩散能力，但许多两栖动物物种的地理分布跨越多个海洋。为了解决这些问题，这项研究旨在了解生活史变化对弹涂鱼种群基因流动的影响。本研究将与张春光博士合作进行，张春光博士是一位在弹涂鱼适应性研究方面具有丰富经验的研究人员。张博士是中国科学院动物研究所的研究教授。除了先前从台湾和日本采集的样本外，还将对来自中国大陆沿着的一种两栖弹涂鱼物种（Periophthalmus modestus）样本进行研究。将进行基因组DNA测序，以了解东海和南海物种的种群结构。DNA序列的变化将被比较，以了解中国沿海地区和周边岛屿之间的运动模式。为了了解两栖生活史的重要性，将根据洋流和沿海土地利用来检查种群结构，以确定土地利用是否在弹涂鱼的运动中发挥作用。该项目将有助于弥合生命史中变异的生态重要性与基因流的进化意义之间的鸿沟。该奖项属于东亚和太平洋暑期研究所计划，支持美国研究生的暑期研究，由NSF和中国科技部共同资助。

Most fishes are limited to aquatic environments, but about 70 of 32,000 ray-finned fishes, including mudskippers, are amphibious, or able to survive in terrestrial environments, often for the purposes of reproduction. This behavior is important because many coastal areas are subject to habitat destruction via sea walls, light and noise pollution, urbanization and destruction of mudflats/coastal land, making coastal habitats uninhabitable for periods of time. Over time, the inability to colonize coastal areas over a large geographic area can compromise a species' survival. While amphibious life history limits opportunities for dispersal ability to a specific life stage, many amphibious species have geographic distributions, which span multiple oceans. To address these issues, this research aims to understand the effects of variations in life history on the flow of genes across mudskipper populations. This study will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Zhang Chunguang, a researcher with significant experience researching the adaptations of pertaining to mudskippers. Dr. Zhang is a research professor at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.An amphibious mudskipper species samples (Periophthalmus modestus) from along the cost of mainland China will be studied, in addition to previously collected sample from Taiwan and Japan. Genomic DNA sequencing will be done to understand the population structure of the species across the East and South China Sea. Variation in DNA sequences will be compared to understand patterns of movement between coastal areas of China and the surrounding islands. To understand the importance of amphibious life history, population structure will be examined against ocean currents and coastal land use to determine if land use plays a role in movement of mudskippers. This project will help bridge the lingering gap between the ecological importance of variation in life history and evolutionary significance of gene flow. This award under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.