RUI: Collaborative Research: Uncovering the population and community level consequences of phenotypic plasticity

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Changes in the environment that affect organisms, such as in temperature, may occur slowly (over years to decades) or may occur more rapidly (over a day or season). This study uses several types of single celled algae to understand how organisms adjust to rapid changes in their environment and to examine how the ability to do so may influence their growth, survival, and abundance. This study also explores how changes in the ability to adjust to sudden environmental change can influence the relationships among organisms in an area. This work has implications for conservation, management, and theory because it will improve our ability to predict the consequences of environmental change at both short and longer time scales. This study will train graduate and undergraduate students through their participation in research and the development of a complimentary teaching module. Outreach opportunities include the development of interactive 'science kits' for elementary students and Museum oriented activities. Gradual plasticity, the non-genetic changes to an organism that influence its performance following its exposure to environmental change, is an overlooked but important process that may determine an organism's success and the outcomes of their ecological interactions. This study will use laboratory and field-based experiments, and several species of phytoplankton, to develop an integrative empirical and theoretical framework to explore the ecological implications of gradual plasticity. This work will i) characterize the features of acclimation associated with individuals within and across species, ii) examine how acclimation rates influence population dynamics and the shape of reaction norms, and iii) develop models that explore how gradual acclimation affects the invasion, competition, and coexistence of species in the face of variable environmental change. This work will provide a foundation for studying and forecasting changes in a wide variety of ecological communities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.