The impact of environmental variability on evolutionary processes in wild animal populations impact de la variabilité environnementale sur l'evolution des populations animales

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Environmental change impacts on the evolutionary processes that produce and maintain biodiversity have received little attention despite the fact that extinction risk will be linked to a species' evolutionary potential or phenotypic plasticity. The assumption of a constant environment in previous studies limits our understanding of the evolution of natural populations and of their ability to adapt to environmental changes. There is thus a vital need to quantify selection, quantitative genetics parameters and phenotypic plasticity in wild animal populations taking into account a realistic range of environmental conditions. That analysis will also provide a better assessment of the spatial scale of adaptation. The goal of my research program is to determine the impact of environmental changes on evolutionary processes in wild animal populations. I will combine landscape and molecular ecology techniques, powerful quantitative genetics methods such as the "animal model" and long-term monitoring of marked individuals in a wild bird population to establish pedigrees and to quantify environmental variation at both the spatial and the temporal scale. My program will focus on 1) Establishing how environmental variability affects the amount of genetic variance and trait heritability; 2) Assessing both the strength and the variability of multivariate selection patterns under a wide range of environmental conditions; 3) Quantifying the level of variation in, the selection acting on, and the heritability of phenotypic plasticity under different environments. My research will be based on the Tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor), a species that readily breeds in nest boxes and can be uniquely marked, allowing precise long-term monitoring at both the population and individual levels. My program has an excellent chance of success. Over 400 nest boxes are already located in contrasting habitats and have been monitored for 2 years. The combination of empirical and laboratory-based approaches make my program one of very few with the data and the technical expertise required to assess evolutionary change in the wild. Consequently, it will provide an ideal environment for the training of graduate students.