Postdoctoral Fellowship: OPP-PRF: Exploration of How Historical Climate Events Impacted Pacific Cod (Gadus macrocephalus) Evolution and Fishery Use

太平洋鳕鱼历来是并将继续是沿海社区极其重要的经济资源。然而，世界海洋正在经历快速变暖事件，这已经对鱼类和渔业产生了负面影响。本研究探讨了两个历史气候事件，中世纪变暖事件和小冰河期，是如何影响太平洋鳕鱼种群和它们的进化的。该项目利用动物考古标本、历史记录和环境数据来追踪太平洋鳕鱼的进化，以及沿海社区在过去两千年中如何利用这种资源。这项工作将与美国国家海洋和大气管理局的科学家合作完成，他们可能会利用这些发现来为现代太平洋鳕鱼的管理决策提供信息。该项目将对路易斯·斯托克斯少数民族参与联盟（LSAMP）项目招募的一名本科生进行生物信息学和分子实验室技术方面的培训，通过模拟的外展活动为高中生提供进化论教育，并在阿拉斯加圣保罗岛的白令海日为K-12学生进行额外的外展活动。这项研究的结果将通过会议报告、同行评议的文章和向阿拉斯加社区的报告来分享。该研究调查了两个全新世晚期气候事件对太平洋鳕鱼种群的影响。该项目检验了这样一种假设，即气候事件导致种群数量大幅下降，随后种群数量恢复，这可以通过遗传多样性的丧失、基因组适应性的增强、营养水平的变化和渔业利用季节性的变化来证明。PI将采用多学科方法，结合动物考古学、考古基因组学和从北太平洋三个考古遗址出土的太平洋鳕鱼骨的同位素数据。这项工作将1)描述种群基因组随时间的变化；2)识别响应历史气候事件的选择特征，并将其与现代基因组适应进行比较；3)确定过去的气候事件是否引起了营养水平的演变；4)对不同时期渔业利用的季节性进行比较和对比。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。

Pacific cod has historically been and continues to be an extremely important economic resource for coastal communities. However, the world’s oceans are experiencing rapid warming events that have already negatively impacted fish and fisheries. This research explores how two historical climate events, the Medieval Warming Event and the Little Ice Age, affected Pacific cod populations in the past and influenced their evolution. The project employs zooarchaeological specimens, historical records, and environmental data to track the evolution of Pacific cod and how coastal communities used this resource throughout the last two thousand years. This work will be done in collaboration with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists, who may use these findings to inform management decisions of modern-day Pacific cod. This project will train an undergraduate student recruited through the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program in bioinformatics and molecular laboratory techniques, bring evolution education to high school students through an outreach activity using simulations, and conduct additional outreach to K-12 students at Bering Sea Days on St. Paul Island, Alaska. Findings from this research will be shared via conference presentations, peer-reviewed articles, and presentations to Alaska communities.The research investigate how two late Holocene climatic events affected Pacific cod populations. The project tests the hypothesis that climatic events caused significant population declines followed by population recovery, evidenced by loss of genetic diversity, increased genomic adaptation, trophic-level shifts, and variation in the seasonality of fishery use. The PI will use a multidisciplinary approach, combining zooarchaeological, archaeogenomic, and isotopic data from Pacific cod bones excavated from three archaeological sites in the North Pacific. The work will 1) characterize population genomic changes over time; 2) identify signatures of selection in response to historical climatic events, and compare them to modern genomic adaptations; 3) identify whether past climatic events caused trophic-level evolution; and 4) compare and contrast the seasonality of fishery use through time.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.