Collaborative Research: RAPID: Testing the Mechanisms and Consequences of an Adaptive Response to a Catastrophic Fire and Heatwave in Stream Frogs

气候变化正在导致更多的极端天气事件，如火灾和热浪。除了人类生命的悲惨损失外，这些事件对动物和植物产生了毁灭性影响。生物学家面临的一个挑战是了解物种将如何应对此类气候事件--它们是否能够应对，或者它们是否会灭绝。为了应对这一挑战，研究人员必须确定极端气候事件后发生的生物变化。该项目旨在了解在太平洋西北部的寒流中发现的尾蛙种群如何应对大火和热浪的后果。在2020 - 2021年发生火灾和热浪之前，研究团队已经在该地区研究了4年的尾蛙生理和遗传学。在这些事件发生后仅一年半，研究人员将测量青蛙种群中发生的生理，遗传和其他变化。这将使研究人员能够1）了解青蛙如何应对极端气候事件，2）预测它们未来将如何应对，3）将他们的发现提交给当地土地管理人员，讨论该地区青蛙和其他淡水水生物种的可能保护策略，4）培养博士后和本科研究人员。 物种可以通过可塑性和/或适应性对极端气候事件做出反应。人口的反应可能取决于环境变化的规模和严重程度，虽然对极端气候事件的反应的调查很少。四年来，研究人员一直在研究沿海尾蛙（Ascaphus truei）的热敏感性和适应能力，这是太平洋西北部快速流动溪流中的主要食草动物，以预测它们对气候变化的反应。他们测量了溪流的热特性，蝌蚪的热生理学，并确定了与这些变量相关的基因组标记。2020年，一场激烈的森林大火在两条研究溪流的顶部燃烧。一年后，一场前所未有的热浪袭击了所有的遗址。拟议的研究将测试有关在环境，生理和基因组水平上发生的变化的假设，以应对这些气候事件。这项研究将（i）确定受火灾和热浪影响的人群的热生理变化模式，（ii）测试基于遗传的火灾和热浪适应特征，以及（iii）整合生理学和基因组学的发现，以预测种群的持续性变化的程度，作为每一个极端气候事件的结果。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为值得支持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。

Climate change is causing more extreme weather events such as fires and heatwaves. In addition to the tragic loss of human life, such events have a devastating effect on animals and plants. One challenge for biologists is to understand how species will respond to such climatic events – if they can cope or if they will go extinct. To meet this challenge, researchers must identify what biological changes occur following extreme climatic events. This project seeks to understand how populations of tailed frogs, which are found in cold streams of the Pacific Northwest, have coped in the aftermath of a large fire and heatwave. The research team had been studying the physiology and genetics of tailed frogs in this region for 4 years before the fire and heatwave occurred in 2020-2021. Only a year and a half after these events, the researchers will measure what physiological, genetic, and other changes have occurred in the frog populations. This will allow the researchers to 1) understand how the frog responded to extreme climatic events, 2) predict how they will respond in the future, and 3) present their findings to local land managers to discuss possible conservation strategies for frogs and other freshwater aquatic species in the area, and 4) train a postdoctoral and undergraduate researcher. Species can respond to extreme climatic events via plasticity and/or adaptation. How populations respond may depend on the magnitude and severity of environmental change, although investigations of responses to extreme climatic events are rare. For four years, the researchers have been studying the thermal sensitivity and adaptive capacity of coastal tailed frogs (Ascaphus truei), a dominant herbivore in fast-flowing streams in the Pacific Northwest, to predict their responses to climate change. They have measured stream thermal characteristics, tadpole thermal physiology, and identified genomic markers associated with those variables. In 2020, an intense forest fire burned on top of two of the study streams. A year later, an unprecedented heatwave impacted all of the sites. The proposed research will test hypotheses about changes that have occurred at the environmental, physiological, and genomic levels in response to these climatic events. This research will (i) identify patterns of thermal physiological change in fire- and heatwave-affected populations, (ii) test for signatures of genetically-based adaptation to the fire and heatwave, and (iii) integrate physiological and genomic findings to predict the degree to which persistence of populations changes as a result of each extreme climatic event.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.