NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Phenotypic flexibility may allow long-lived species to buffer from environmental change

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This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the Fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. The ability to change functional traits is thought to benefit animals that live in rapidly changing environments. However, little research has focused on how slow-growing, long-lived species may use physiological changes to withstand environmental stress that occurs over long timespans. White sturgeon, one of the largest freshwater fish in North America, can live upwards of 100 years. Sturgeon populations in the Fraser River, British Columbia, are considered threatened or endangered due to overfishing. As efforts increase to restock sturgeon in the Fraser River, it is important to understand how these fish may tolerate environmental stress, and what genetic components may produce climate change “winners”. The Fellow will investigate if flexibility in functional traits can help buffer a long-lived species from future environmental change. The Fellow will gain critical research experience during the study, ranging from transcriptomics to whole-animal performance, as well as involving students from diverse backgrounds in research activities. This project uses a paired design, wherein individual sturgeon will be assessed for characteristics of tolerance and performance across biological levels of organization. Individuals will undergo a series of environmental stress tests to determine thermal and low oxygen (hypoxia) tolerance and understand if tolerance is consistent across stressors. In addition, individual aerobic performance will be measured to determine whether tolerance is functionally beneficial for this species. Furthermore, genetic, biochemical, and tissue-level metrics will be assessed to determine what anchors whole-animal tolerance and performance. Comparative physiologists have long been captivated by the mechanistic underpinnings of thermal and hypoxia tolerance. The sheer diversity of fish species has limited unifying explanations that could explain the linkage between thermal and oxygen limitations. Therefore, it is imperative to characterize and understand thermal and hypoxia tolerance of a long-lived species previously unstudied in this context to further understanding of these processes. Furthermore, understanding which genes produce favorable phenotypes can help conservation initiatives to identify stress-tolerant white sturgeon. The Fellow plans to partner with local conservation and education initiatives to disseminate the findings of this research beyond academia.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.