CAREER: Mechanisms and costs of temperature adaptation along a latitudinal cline for the coastal copepod, Acartia tonsa

生活在不同空间或时间的环境中的有机体可能具有更强的适应或适应环境条件快速变化的能力。然而，关于种群间快速适应的机制或能力，以及与快速进化相关的代价程度，人们知之甚少。该项目将描述自然和实验温度适应的机制和成本，利用沿海基本桡足动物Acartia tonsa的广泛纬度分布的多个种群。这项工作还将极大地促进我们对适应许多其他生态和经济关键物种的能力变异的一般理解。为了开展这项工作，首席调查员将在五年内带领100名本科生，通过一个基于教学和研究资产的综合培训计划，将座谈会、暑期研究实习和研究课程联系起来。此外，两名博士后、一名博士后科学家和一名研究技术员将在基于资产的指导、遗传学、基因组学、进化、计算和海洋生物学以及如何成为包容的、支持性的STEM社区的成员方面发展不同的技能。除了改善参与者的福祉和增加更多样化的STEM劳动力外，这项研究的结果还将通过提高预测未来条件下物种持久性的能力和更好地理解全球变化对海洋生态系统的威胁的范围来造福社会。人口通过遗传适应或生理可塑性来应对不同空间和时间的环境条件，然而，缺乏对这些机制如何在不同种群之间变化或对未来复原力做出贡献的全面了解。此外，温度适应是一个复杂的生理特征，因此快速的温度适应可能会根据种群的基因组背景而采取多种途径，并可能产生意想不到的成本。在该项目中，首席研究人员将带领学生测试以下假设：基因组背景的差异会影响适应能力，以及对一个压力源的快速适应会伴随着在其他压力源中生存的代价。该项目将利用具有生态基础的沿海桡足类动物Acartia tonsa的广阔纬度分布和实验可驯性。研究人员将1)利用生态基因组学和全基因组关联研究，在美国东海岸环境梯度的种群中将基因型与温度适应表型联系起来；2)揭示种群和生活史阶段之间热耐性差异的转录基础；3)表征多个实验进化种群中温度适应轨迹的变化，并衡量适应的成本。整合这些目标的结果将导致对复杂性状的分子基础、实验室和田间研究中进化轨迹的重复性以及温度适应中塑料和遗传反应机制之间的关系的洞察。最后，这项工作将通过制定教研一体化培训计划来进行，该计划将增加STEM研究社区的多样性和包容性。这笔赠款是由生物科学局综合组织系统司的综合生态生理学计划、地球科学局海洋科学部的生物海洋学计划和综合活动办公室的EPSCoR计划共同资助的。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Organisms that live in environments that vary across space or time may have greater capacity to acclimate or adapt to rapid changes in environmental conditions. However, little is known about the mechanisms or capacities for rapid adaptation among populations or the extent of costs associated with rapid evolution. This project will characterize the mechanisms and costs of natural and experimental temperature adaptation using multiple populations along the broad latitudinal distribution of the foundational coastal copepod, Acartia tonsa. This work will also greatly advance our general understanding of variation in capacity to adapt for many other ecologically and economically critical species. To carry out this work, the principal investigator will lead 100 undergraduates, over the five-year period, through an integrative teaching-research asset-based training program that connects a colloquium, summer research internship, and research course. In addition, two PhD students, one postdoctoral scientist, and one research technician will develop diverse skillsets in asset-based mentoring, genetics, genomics, evolution, computational and marine biology, and how to be a member of an inclusive, supportive STEM community. In addition to improving the well-being of participants and growing a more diverse STEM workforce, results from the research will benefit society by improving the ability to predict species persistence in future conditions and improving understanding of the scope of the threat of changing global conditions on ocean ecosystems.Populations respond to environmental conditions that vary across space and time through genetic adaptation or physiologically plasticity, however, a comprehensive understanding of how these mechanisms vary across populations or contribute to future resilience is lacking. In addition, temperature adaptation is a complex physiological trait, thus rapid temperature adaptation could take multiple paths depending on the genomic background of a population and could yield unintended costs. In the project, the principal investigator will lead students in work to test the hypotheses that variation in genomic backgrounds affects capacity to adapt and that rapid adaptation to one stressor comes with costs to survive other stressors. The project will capitalize on the broad latitudinal distribution and experimental tractability of the ecologically foundational coastal copepod, Acartia tonsa. The researchers will 1) Link genotype to temperature adaptive phenotype using ecological genomics and genome-wide association studies in populations along the environmental gradient of the U.S. East Coast, 2) Reveal the transcriptional bases of differences in thermal tolerance among populations and life-history stages, 3) Characterize variation in temperature adaptation trajectories in multiple experimentally evolved populations and measure the costs of adaptation. Integration of results across these aims will lead to insights to the molecular bases of complex traits, the repeatability of evolutionary trajectories in lab- and field-based studies, and the relationship between plastic and genetic response mechanisms in temperature adaptation. Lastly, this work will be performed through the development of an integrated teaching-research training program that will increase diversity and inclusion in a STEM research community. This grant was cofunded by the Integrative Ecological Physiology Program in the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems in the Directorate for Biological Science, The Biological Oceanography Program in the Division of Ocean Sciences in the Directorate for Geosciences, and The EPSCoR Program in the Office of Integrative Activities.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.