BRC-BIO: Adaptive variation through space and time in American pikas (Ochotona princeps)

世界各地的环境正在迅速变化。因此，许多动物必须改变它们的行为或生理特征来适应，迁移到更适合的地区，否则就有灭绝的危险。描述动物在过去是如何变化的，对于理解它们现在面临的风险至关重要。“空间换时间”的方法允许调查不同环境中的种群在生物学上的差异。这使得研究人员可以推断它们如何应对未来的环境变化。例如，约塞米蒂国家公园海拔高，降雪多，而内华达州的低洼山脉相对炎热干燥。随着优胜美地变得越来越温暖和干燥，该地区的动物可能会开始变得更像内华达州的动物种群。相比之下，“时间”方法涉及分析在同一地点发现的动物的数据，但时间上相隔一个世纪或更久。通过使用自然历史博物馆的藏品，这个项目将采用空间换时间和时间的方法来研究美国鼠兔。鼠兔体型小，对温度敏感，长得像兔子，生活在岩石地区。这项工作旨在更好地了解这些种群如何对过去的变化做出反应，从而更好地预测它们对当前和未来环境变化的反应。此外，该项目将为来自历史上代表性不足的背景的本科生和硕士生提供研究经验。最后，研究人员将与当地社区大学的教授合作，为生物课堂开发材料。本研究采用全基因组测序和景观基因组学对美国鼠兔（Ochotona princeps）的现代和历史博物馆标本进行分析。重要的是，这些历史标本是在当前快速气候变化开始之前收集的。具体来说，本研究将沿着空间和时间环境梯度确定适应性遗传变异。它将检查相关的生理途径，并研究来自不同遗传谱系的群体是否经历了这些特征的平行进化。最后，这项工作将开发一组中性和功能性的遗传标记，以非侵入性地调查和监测整个物种范围内的种群。在广泛的地理区域内同时使用时空替代和时间框架，可以对当地适应的环境驱动因素进行更有力的推断。此外，在不同遗传谱系的种群对之间进行空间和时间比较，可以分析平行进化。这项研究将是量化温度敏感物种对快速气候变化的进化反应的重要一步。同样，它将显著提高我们预测美国鼠兔和类似限制物种未来的反应和脆弱性的能力。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。

Environments around the world are rapidly changing. As a result, many animals must either alter their behaviors or biology to adjust, move to a more suitable area, or risk going extinct. Characterizing how animals changed in the past is crucial to understanding risks they face in the present. A “space-for-time” approach allows for investigation of how populations in dissimilar environments differ in their biology. This then allows researchers to infer how they might respond to future environmental changes. For instance, Yosemite National Park is at high elevation and gets a lot of snow compared to the low-lying mountain ranges of Nevada, which are relatively hot and dry. As Yosemite gets warmer and drier, animals in that area may start looking and behaving more like the populations found in Nevada. In contrast, a “temporal” approach involves analyzing data from animals found in the same location but separated in time by a century or more. By using natural history museum collections, this project will employ both a space-for-time and a temporal approach with American pikas. Pikas are small, temperature-sensitive, rabbit-like creatures that live in rocky areas. The work aims to better understand how these populations have responded to past changes with the goal of better predicting their response to current and future environmental change. In addition, this project will provide research experiences to undergraduate and master’s students from historically underrepresented backgrounds. Finally, the researchers will collaborate with local community college professors to develop material for biology classrooms.The proposed research applies whole genome sequencing and landscape genomics to analyze modern and historic museum specimens of American pikas (Ochotona princeps). Importantly, the historic specimens were collected prior to the onset of current, rapid climate change. Specifically, this research will identify adaptive genetic variation along spatial and temporal environmental gradients. It will examine associated physiological pathways and investigate whether populations from different genetic lineages have experienced parallel evolution for these traits. Finally, the work will develop a panel of neutral and functional genetic markers to noninvasively survey and monitor populations across the species’ range. Using both a space-for-time substitution and a temporal framework across a broad geographic area allows for more robust inference on the environmental drivers of local adaptation. Furthermore, making spatial and temporal comparisons among pairs of populations in divergent genetic lineages enables analysis of parallel evolution. This research will be an important step in quantifying the evolutionary response of a temperature-sensitive species to rapid climate change. Likewise, it will significantly improve our ability to predict future response and vulnerability of American pikas and species with similar limitations.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.