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

环境变化对水生生物生理和适应性反应的影响

• 批准号: 227859-2012
• 负责人: Glémet, Hélène
• 金额: $ 1.53万
• 依托单位: Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2014-01-01 至 2015-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=546848
• 关键词: Impact; environmental; change; physiological; adaptive

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.

由于人类活动和全球变暖，动物必须科普的环境压力的范围和可变性不断增加。了解动物对这种不同环境的反应是揭示驱动复杂生物过程的潜在力量的第一步，例如生物体的适应和微进化。由J. Elser及其同事开发的一种广泛通用的方法试图将细胞分配与生物体功能和生态动力学联系起来。简单地说，快速生长的生物体被认为具有低生物量C：P和N：P比率，这反映了对快速蛋白质合成所需的富含P的核糖体RNA（rRNA）的分配增加，以支持快速生长。高生长速率表型的遗传机制涉及核糖体RNA基因的结构和组织，特别是基因间间隔区（IGS）长度的异质性。这意味着，进化过程中可以产生变化的主要生活史性状（特定的生长速率），并有生态动态的后果，由于其对有机体元素组成的影响。我的研究计划的总体目标是：1）了解不断变化的环境条件如何影响生理反应，主要是水生生物的生长速度; 2）通过识别和调查与生长有关的功能相关的遗传变异来了解水生生物的适应性反应。