Collaborative Research: ORCC: Carryover effects of multiple climate change stressors in oysters: mechanisms and consequences across stages of ontogeny

合作研究：ORCC：多种气候变化压力源对牡蛎的遗留影响：个体发育各阶段的机制和后果

• 批准号: 2222310
• 负责人: Thomas Miller
• 金额: $ 96.28万
• 依托单位: University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-12-01 至 2026-11-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2222310&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; ORCC; Carryover; effects

Climate change is exposing species to multiple stressors that affect their ability to grow, reproduce, and provide ecosystem services that benefit humans. However, repeated exposure to the same stressors over an organism’s lifetime may allow some species to acclimate and avoid these negative effects, especially if the initial exposure occurs when an individual is young. This study uses oysters to experimentally test how early life exposure to ocean warming and low dissolved oxygen affects oysters’ responses to these same stressors later in life. The eastern oyster is an economically important species that provides ecosystem services to humans such as reducing nitrogen loading to coastal systems and protecting shorelines from storms. But oyster survival and growth are negatively affected by declining dissolved oxygen caused by high nutrient runoff from land and rising atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature. The findings will improve our understanding of how repeated stress exposure affects species’ responses to climate change, and whether repeated exposure is a tool that can be harnessed to improve food and job security in aquaculture and resource management. This potential strategy will be shared with aquaculture stakeholders throughout Maryland in a series of workshops. It will engage graduate students and undergraduates in scientific research. It will also introduce elementary through high school students to the concepts of climate change and the importance of marine ecosystems to human well-being through the development and distribution of Science-to-Go modules that provide at-home science activity kits on topics related to the project.Phenotypic plasticity is an important component of organismal responses to climate change, but is typically examined only in relation to an individual’s current environment. However, organism phenotypes are frequently influenced by past environmental experiences such as those that occur early in life, but little is known about how these “within-generation carryover effects,” or the mechanisms that drive them, persist and change across organism ontogeny. The proposed research will explore how early life exposure to two interacting climate change stressors – hypoxia and warming – impacts eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) fitness as well as the potential mechanisms and ecological consequences of these carryover effects across multiple years and at multiple points during ontogeny. This study involves a series of manipulative experiments in the lab and field (on an aquaculture farm) and analyzes oyster fitness, microbiomes, methylomes, and nitrogen content at each ontogenetic stage. The need to understand plasticity through time and the lasting influence of past environments on organism traits is critical to accurately predict organismal responses to climate change. Because climate change is increasing the likelihood that organisms will be exposed to the same stressors repeatedly over their lifetimes, within-generation carryover effects may play an increasingly important role in adaptive responses. Carryover effects may be a means of quickly acclimating organisms to future environments that can be used in conjunction with selective breeding to create more resilient organisms. This research will thus generate data on a potential strategy for addressing effects of climate change on aquaculture and coastal systems.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.

气候变化使物种面临多种压力，影响其生长、繁殖和提供有益于人类的生态系统服务的能力。然而，在生物体的一生中反复暴露于相同的压力源可能会使一些物种适应并避免这些负面影响，特别是如果初始暴露发生在个体年轻时。这项研究使用牡蛎来实验性地测试早期生活暴露于海洋变暖和低溶解氧如何影响牡蛎在以后的生活中对这些相同压力源的反应。东部牡蛎是一种经济上重要的物种，为人类提供生态系统服务，如减少沿海系统的氮负荷和保护海岸线免受风暴的影响。但是，牡蛎的生存和生长受到陆地高营养流失造成的溶解氧下降和大气二氧化碳和温度上升的负面影响。这些发现将提高我们对重复压力暴露如何影响物种对气候变化的反应的理解，以及重复暴露是否是一种可以用来改善水产养殖和资源管理中的粮食和工作安全的工具。这一潜在的战略将在一系列研讨会上与整个马里兰州的水产养殖利益相关者分享。它将吸引研究生和本科生从事科学研究。该项目还将通过开发和分发科学入门模块，向小学生和高中生介绍气候变化的概念以及海洋生态系统对人类福祉的重要性，该模块提供与该项目相关主题的家庭科学活动套件。但通常仅针对个人当前环境进行检查。然而，生物体表型经常受到过去环境经验的影响，例如那些发生在生命早期的环境经验，但很少有人知道这些“代内遗留效应”或驱动它们的机制如何在生物体个体发育中持续和变化。拟议的研究将探讨早期生活暴露于两个相互作用的气候变化压力源-缺氧和变暖-如何影响东部牡蛎（Crassostrea virginica）的健康以及这些结转效应的潜在机制和生态后果多年来，在个体发育过程中的多个点。这项研究涉及一系列的操作实验在实验室和现场（在水产养殖场），并分析牡蛎健身，微生物组，甲基化和氮含量在每个个体发育阶段。需要了解随着时间的推移的可塑性和过去环境对生物特征的持久影响，这对于准确预测生物对气候变化的反应至关重要。由于气候变化正在增加生物体在其一生中反复暴露于相同压力源的可能性，代内遗留效应可能在适应性反应中发挥越来越重要的作用。携带效应可能是一种使生物体快速适应未来环境的手段，可以与选择性育种结合使用，以创造更具弹性的生物体。这项研究将因此产生一个潜在的战略，以应对气候变化对水产养殖和沿海系统的影响的数据。这个奖项反映了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。