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生物可能具有更大的适应或适应环境条件快速变化的能力。然而，人们对种群间快速适应的机制或能力或与快速进化相关的成本程度知之甚少。本项目将利用沿海基础桡足动物Acartia tonsa沿宽纬度分布的多个种群来描述自然和实验温度适应的机制和成本。这项工作也将极大地促进我们对许多其他生态和经济关键物种适应能力变化的一般理解。为了开展这项工作，首席研究员将带领100名本科生，在五年的时间里，通过一个综合的教学-研究资产培训计划，将研讨会、暑期研究实习和研究课程联系起来。此外，两名博士生、一名博士后科学家和一名研究技术人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、支持STEM社区的一员等方面发展各种技能。除了改善参与者的福祉和培养更多样化的STEM劳动力外，研究结果还将通过提高预测未来条件下物种持久性的能力和提高对全球条件变化对海洋生态系统威胁范围的理解，使社会受益。种群通过遗传适应或生理可塑性对时空变化的环境条件做出反应，然而，缺乏对这些机制在种群间如何变化或如何影响未来恢复力的全面理解。此外，温度适应是一种复杂的生理特性，因此，根据种群的基因组背景，快速的温度适应可能采取多种途径，并可能产生意想不到的成本。在该项目中，首席研究员将带领学生们进行工作，以测试基因组背景的变化会影响适应能力的假设，以及对一种压力源的快速适应会带来生存其他压力源的成本。该项目将利用生态基础沿海桡足动物Acartia tonsa的广泛纬度分布和实验可追溯性。研究人员将1)利用生态基因组学和全基因组关联研究将基因型与温度适应表型联系起来，2)揭示不同种群和生活史阶段之间耐热性差异的转录基础，3)表征多个实验进化种群的温度适应轨迹变化并测量适应成本。整合这些目标的结果将有助于深入了解复杂性状的分子基础，实验室和现场研究中进化轨迹的可重复性，以及温度适应中塑性和遗传反应机制之间的关系。最后，这项工作将通过开发一个综合教研培训计划来完成，这将增加STEM研究社区的多样性和包容性。该基金由生物科学理事会综合有机体系统部的综合生态生理学项目、地球科学理事会海洋科学部的生物海洋学项目和综合活动办公室的EPSCoR项目共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.