Evolution and climate change: elucidating the controls on species' responses to 4 Myrs of environmental change in the Atlantic Coastal Plain, USA

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Dr. Erin E. Saupe has been granted an NSF EAR Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out research and education plans at University of Oxford, Yale University, and the University of Michigan. This study will examine long-term evolutionary responses of marine mollusk species and communities to environmental changes during the last 4 million years in the Atlantic Coastal Plain, USA. Analyses will integrate paleontological and modern biological data with paleoclimate information to test two hypotheses: (1) Whether temperature changes after 3.0 Million years ago generated observed patterns of biotic turnover in the molluscan fossil record of the Atlantic Coastal Plain; and (2) Whether species exhibit increased genetic diversity in regions that are closer to the centroid of their suitable environmental conditions, and in regions that were environmentally suitable for those species over millions of years. Dr. Saupe will engage high school and undergraduate students in research. Dr. Saupe will also design an online educational exhibit on her research for the Yale Peabody Museum, which will be visible internationally. Mollusks of the Atlantic Coastal Plain provide an ideal system to examine how species respond to environmental changes. The region has abundant records of both fossil and modern mollusks and has experienced significant environmental disturbance in the last 3 million years. Dr. Saupe will study different mollusks species using ecological niche modeling and geographic information systems software to quantify environmental tolerances (i.e., niche breadth). Genetic diversity will be measured using next generation DNA sequencing. An understanding of the controls on species' responses to environmental change will inform the protection of critical ocean resources.