Impact of environmental change on the physiological and adaptive responses of aquatic organisms

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As a consequence of human activity and global warming, the range and variability of environmental pressures that animals must cope with is constantly increasing. Understanding animal response to such varying environments is a first step towards uncovering the underlying forces driving complex biological processes, such as adaptation and microevolution of organisms. A broadly generalized approach, developed by J. Elser and colleagues attempts to link cellular allocation to organism function and to ecological dynamics. Briefly, rapidly growing organisms are thought to have low biomass C:P and N:P ratios that reflect an increased allocation to P-rich ribosomal RNA (rRNA) needed for rapid protein synthesis to support fast growth. Genetic mechanisms underlying high growth rate phenotypes implicate the structure and organisation of ribosomal RNA genes, notably heterogeneity in intergenic spacer (IGS) length. This implies that evolutionary processes can generate variation in a major life history trait (specific growth rate) and have consequences for ecological dynamics due to their effects on organismal elemental composition. The general objectives of my research program are: 1) to understand how changing environmental conditions impact physiological responses, mainly the growth rates of aquatic organisms; 2) to understand the adaptive responses of aquatic organisms by identifying and investigating functionally relevant genetic variation implicated in growth.