Consequences of kin structure in benthic marine systems

在海洋系统中，幼虫的产生、扩散和招募是重建枯竭的成虫种群、促进物种地理范围的变化和改变在环境压力下适应的潜力的关键过程。传统上，底层相关成虫的微小幼虫被认为分散在远离父母和彼此的地方，使得亲属之间不太可能发生互动。然而，新出现的证据正在挑战这一观点：幼虫的扩散并不总是破坏定居时的亲缘关系，海底的很大一部分无脊椎动物多样性包含大多数幼虫短距离扩散的物种。有限的扩散增加了亲属之间相互作用的可能性，这对许多代人的个体适应能力具有重要影响，从而提高了种群的生产力和适应的潜力。但这些后果何时发生，以及它们具体是如何表现出来的，在很大程度上仍未得到解释。现在的关键挑战是解释和预测亲属关系何时可能发生，以及它们何时可能产生积极或消极的生态后果。因此，这项研究的关键问题是：1)亲属关系是如何以及何时产生和持续的，以及2)与亲属生活在一起对生存、成长和生殖有什么后果。这项以概念为导向的研究将基因组方法与实验室和野外环境中的实验方法相结合，使用了一种易于实验处理的代表性无脊椎动物物种。该项目培训和指导佛罗里达州立大学(FSU)的博士生和博士后学者。制定实地和实验室活动，并将其纳入FSU的K-12教育计划和外展机会。亲属在空间上的接近在生物组织的多个层面上产生了根本上的重要后果。这些后果很可能在大范围的海底海洋系统中特别重要，在这些系统中，竞争、促进和交配严重依赖于邻居的接近和数量。然而，解释和预测这种影响的发生、程度和方向仍然具有挑战性。新出现的证据表明，亲缘结构的生态后果不太可能与扩散潜力有直接的关系。因此，对于亲属关系结构何时发生以及为什么它可能产生积极、消极或中性的生态后果，找到新的原因至关重要。这项研究旨在提供一个新的理解，以了解扩散和定居后的过程如何产生空间结构，种群密度和亲缘关系如何影响定居后的适合度，以及交配伙伴的亲缘关系如何影响其后代的数量和适合度(近亲繁殖和近亲繁殖)。这项研究结合了基因组方法、实验后代阵列以及野外和实验室环境中的操纵实验，以测试几个广泛适用于不同物种的假设。通过专注于实验上易驯化的物种来测试广泛适用的假设，该项目实现了在以前的工作中难以实现的一般性和整合水平。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。

In marine systems, the production, dispersal, and recruitment of larvae are crucial processes that rebuild depleted adult stocks, facilitate changes in species geographic ranges, and modify the potential for adaptation under environmental stress. Traditionally, the tiny larvae of bottom-associated adults were thought to disperse far from their parents and from each other, making interactions among kin improbable. However, emerging evidence is challenging this view: larval dispersal does not always disrupt kin associations at settlement, and a large fraction of invertebrate diversity on the seafloor contains species in which most larvae disperse short distances. Limited dispersal increases the potential for interactions among kin, which has important consequences for individual fitness across many generations, and therefore the productivity of populations and the potential for adaptation. But when these consequences occur, and how exactly they manifest, remains largely unexplained. The key challenge now is to explain and predict when kin associations are likely to occur, and when they are likely to have positive or negative ecological consequences. Therefore, the key questions addressed by this research are: 1) how and when do kin associations arise and persist, and 2) what are the consequences of living with kin for survival, growth, and reproduction. This concept-driven research combines genomic approaches with experimental approaches in lab and field settings using an experimentally-tractable and representative invertebrate species. The project trains and mentors PhD students and a postdoctoral scholar at Florida State University (FSU). Field and laboratory activities are developed and incorporated into K–12 education programs and outreach opportunities at FSU. The spatial proximity of relatives has fundamentally important consequences at multiple levels of biological organization. These consequences are likely to be particularly important in a large range of benthic marine systems, where competition, facilitation, and mating depend strongly on the proximity and number of neighbors. However, explaining and predicting the occurrence, magnitude, and direction of such effects remains challenging. Emerging evidence suggest that the ecological consequences of kin structure are unlikely to have a straight-forward relationship with dispersal potential. Therefore, it is crucial to discover new reasons for when kinship structure occurs and why it could have positive, negative, or neutral ecological consequences. This research aims to provide a new understanding of how dispersal and post-settlement processes generate spatial kin structure, how population density and relatedness influence post-settlement fitness, and how the relatedness of mating partners influences the number and fitness of their offspring (inbreeding and outbreeding). The research combines genomic approaches, experimental progeny arrays, and manipulative experiments in field and lab settings to test several hypotheses that are broadly applicable across species. By focusing on an experimentally tractable species to test broadly applicable hypotheses, the project achieves generality and a level of integration that has been difficult to achieve in previous work.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.