Local adaptation and the evolution of plasticity under predator invasion and warming seas: consequences for individuals, populations, and communities

在过去的二十年里，缅因州海湾经历了前所未有的变暖，除其他外，这进一步使入侵的绿色蟹能够扩大其在岩石海岸栖息地的范围。这种入侵性捕食者的不利生态影响已在世界范围内记录在案。本研究探讨了两种常见猎物物种对这种捕食者和海洋温度变暖的结合做出反应的能力的地理变化如何影响猎物的摄食和表现，并影响群落结构和动态。因此，这项研究增强了对表型进化的理解，它们的可塑性，适应的性质及其在生态进化动力学中的作用。更广泛地说，它有助于了解生物和海洋群落如何应对未来的环境变化。此外，该项目通过为初中和高中，本科和研究生提供进化和社区生态学的跨学科培训，为STEM管道做出了贡献。在与一个机构外展计划的合作中，研究人员还根据这项研究开发了基于网络的多媒体项目和教师资源材料。生态学的一个中心原则是，居住在食物链中间的物种必须平衡进食的好处和被捕食者吃掉的风险。解决这种觅食捕食风险权衡往往涉及到可塑性的猎物性状的进化的适应和物种的相互作用，推动社区层面的进程的后果。因此，觅食捕食风险权衡提供了一个强大的概念框架，连接进化和社区生态学。然而，与此同时，其他环境压力因素（如温度）也会影响这种权衡，增加了复杂性，使人们难以预测生物体适应环境变化的能力及其对社区的影响。研究人员正在缅因州（GOM）的岩石海岸栖息地进行这项研究，这些栖息地长期受到强烈的纬度温度梯度和非本地物种入侵的影响。总体假设是，捕食风险和温度是塑造可塑性和适应性的地理变异的因素，对个人，种群和社区的后果。首先，研究人员正在进行实地实验，以记录绿色蟹饮食中两种常见猎物物种的性状可塑性的地理变异。其次，他正在使用相互移植实验来研究性状可塑性对风险和水温的反应，并生成数据与最近海洋变暖和绿色螃蟹范围扩大之前的90年代末进行的类似实验进行比较。第三，他正在进行一项实验室普通花园实验，以评估风险和水温对性状可塑性的影响。最后，他正在使用互惠移植实验在外地了解风险和水温对猎物觅食率和丰富的物种，在潮间带群落结构和dynamics.This奖项发挥了重要作用的互动影响反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Over the past two decades, the Gulf of Maine has experienced unprecedented warming that, among other things, has further enabled the invasive green crab to expand its range in rocky shore habitats. The adverse ecological impacts of this invasive predator have been documented worldwide. This study examines how geographic variation in the capacity of two common prey species to respond to the combination of this predator and warming ocean temperatures can shape prey feeding and performance and impact community structure and dynamics. Hence, this research enhances understanding of the evolution of phenotypes, their plasticity, and the nature of adaptation and its role in eco-evolutionary dynamics. More broadly, it informs understanding of how organisms and marine communities may respond to future environmental change. In addition, this project makes contributions to the STEM pipeline by providing middle and high school, undergraduate, and graduate students with cross-disciplinary training in evolutionary and community ecology. In collaboration with an institutional outreach program, the investigator is also developing web-based multimedia projects and teacher resource materials based on this research.A central principle in ecology is that species residing in the middle of food chains must balance the benefits of eating with the risk of being eaten by their predators. Solving this foraging-predation risk trade-off often involves plasticity in prey traits with consequences for the evolution of adaptation and species interactions that drive community-level processes. Hence, the foraging-predation risk trade-off provides a powerful conceptual framework that links evolutionary and community ecology. Yet at the same time, other environmental stressors like temperature can shape this trade-off, adding complexity that makes it difficult to predict the capacity of organisms to adapt to environmental change and the consequences for communities. The investigator is conducting this study in rocky shore habitats of the Gulf of Maine (GOM) which have long been influenced by strong latitudinal temperature gradients and non-native species invasions. The overarching hypothesis is that predation risk and temperature are factors shaping geographic variation in plasticity and adaptation, with consequences for individuals, populations, and communities. First, the investigator is conducting field experiments to document geographic variation in the trait plasticity of two common prey species in the green crab’s diet. Second, he is using reciprocal transplant experiments to examine trait plasticity in response to risk and water temperature, generating data to compare with similar experiments conducted in the late 90s prior to recent ocean warming and expansion in range of green crabs. Third, he is conducting a laboratory common garden experiment to evaluate the effects of risk and water temperature on trait plasticity. Finally, he is using reciprocal transplant experiments in the field to understand the interactive effects of risk and water temperature on prey foraging rates and the abundance of a species that plays an important role in intertidal community structure and dynamics.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.