Collaborative Research: Testing for local adaptation and responses to multiple stressors among populations of eastern oysters inhabiting a natural salinity gradient.

该项目的重点是了解墨西哥湾（GOM）不同地区的牡蛎将如何受到气候变暖、降雨模式改变和该地区土地利用变化引起的盐度和温度持续变化的影响。墨西哥湾的牡蛎渔业占全国总量的一半以上，这些牡蛎礁提供了水过滤、海岸线稳定和其他物种的重要栖息地。通过调查当今牡蛎种群对温度和盐度变化的反应，这项研究将为生态学家、保护生物学家、国家管理人员和小规模农民提供有价值的信息，因为他们计划未来环境变化的影响。通过确定最能适应环境变化的牡蛎种群，这项研究将确定潜在的来源种群，这些种群可能用于未来旨在减少种群数量的恢复工作。此外，该项目将通过一个学期的沉浸式研究体验，将研究和教育结合起来。指导本科生3名，研究生2名，博士后1名。将通过制定中学教案、公开讲座、向管理人员通报结果等方式进行宣传。本研究将测试墨西哥湾东部牡蛎（Crassotrea virginica）是否适应当地的盐度，以及盐度和温度的联合变化是否会对牡蛎的生理和生态产生协同效应。由于气候变化、降雨模式改变和沿海水文变化的影响，预计墨西哥湾的温度和盐度在未来一个世纪将迅速变化。牡蛎是该地区重要的栖息地形成物种，虽然它们栖息在广泛的盐度范围内，但初步数据表明，不同种群的盐度耐受性存在很大差异。本研究将整合基因组和生理工具以及对照饲养实验，以(1)量化维吉尼卡种群间的基因组变异，(2)测试其局部适应性，(3)测量温度和盐度对维吉尼卡生理速率和基因表达的影响。然后，研究人员将利用这些数据建立河口特定的动态能量收支模型，将盐度和温度与人口增长联系起来。该项目将为正在进行的恢复工作提供关键支持，确定支持繁殖计划的目标种群的适应性变化，并为面临持续的海洋变暖和沿海水文变化的管理决策提供信息。

The project focuses on understanding how oysters from different regions in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) will be affected by ongoing changes to salinity and temperature caused by a warming climate, altered rainfall patterns, and changes in land use in this region. The oyster fishery in the GOM provides more than half of the national total, and these oyster reefs provide water filtration, shoreline stability, and critical habitat for other species. By investigating how present-day oyster populations respond to changes in temperature and salinity, this research will provide valuable information to ecologists, conservation biologists, state managers, and small-scale farmers as they plan for the effects of future changes in the environment. By identifying populations of oysters that are the most resilient to environmental changes, this research will identify potential source populations that may be used in future restoration efforts aimed at declining populations. Additionally this project will integrate research and education through a semester-long immersive research experience. Three undergraduates, two graduate students, and a postdoctoral scholar will be mentored. Public outreach will be conducted through development of middle school lesson plans, public lectures, and dissemination of results to managers.This research will test whether eastern oysters (Crassotrea virginica) in the Gulf of Mexico are locally adapted to salinity, and whether combined changes in salinity and temperature will have synergistic effects on oyster physiology and ecology. Both temperature and salinity are expected to change rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico over the coming century, due to effects of climate change, altered rainfall patterns, and changes to coastal hydrology. Oysters are a critical habitat-forming species in this region, and while they inhabit a wide range of salinities, preliminary data indicate substantial differences in salinity tolerances among populations. This research will integrate genomic and physiological tools with controlled rearing experiments to (1) quantify genomic variation among populations of C. virginica, (2) test for local adaptation, and (3) measure physiological rates and gene expression as a function of temperature and salinity. The investigators will then use these data to build estuary-specific dynamic energy budget models, linking salinity and temperature to population growth. This project will provide critical support to ongoing restoration efforts, identifying adaptive variation among populations targeted for supportive breeding programs and informing management decisions in the face of ongoing ocean warming and changes to coastal hydrology.