The role of landscape structure in shaping genetic variation in natural populations

景观结构在塑造自然种群遗传变异中的作用

• 批准号: 312089-2012
• 负责人: Keyghobadi, Nusha
• 金额: $ 1.53万
• 依托单位: University of Western Ontario
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=571682
• 关键词: role; landscape; structure; shaping; genetic

Biological diversity, the richness of variation among individuals, species, and ecological communities, is key to the maintenance of natural ecosystem processes and services. Genetic diversity, the heritable variation among individuals within a species, is the most fundamental level of biological diversity and is important for a species' survival and ability to evolve in the face of environmental change. Genetic diversity in natural populations is threatened by the loss and fragmentation of natural habitats, resulting from human-induced changes to landscapes such as the expansion of settlements, industry, and agriculture. As habitats become smaller and more isolated, the populations of plants and animals that occupy them are prone to lose genetic diversity. It is thus essential to understand how landscape alteration, particularly loss and fragmentation of habitats, affects the genetics of populations. My research program focuses on this problem, and more generally on how genetic variation in natural populations is shaped by characteristics of the surrounding landscape. My lab will examine to what extent the spatial arrangement of habitat in the landscape, as opposed to simply the amount of habitat available, is important in determining genetic variation in a species. This is a long-standing question that is very difficult to address, but using insects that live within the purple pitcher plant, we have developed a unique, natural study system that allows us to do so. We will also examine variation at important genes that are involved in metabolism, building a framework for addressing how adaptive, or functionally important, genetic variation is maintained in real landscapes. Our work can guide the management of landscapes to preserve biological diversity, and improves our understanding of how loss and fragmentation of habitats may affect the ability of populations to adapt to other environmental stresses, such as climate change or invasion by exotic species.

生物多样性，个人，物种和生态社区之间的差异丰富，是维持自然生态系统过程和服务的关键。遗传多样性是一个物种中个体之间可遗传的变化，是生物多样性的最基本水平，对于物种的生存和面对环境变化的发展能力很重要。自然种群中的遗传多样性受到自然栖息地的丧失和分散的威胁，这是由于人类引起的对景观的变化（例如定居点，工业和农业的扩展）所引起的。随着栖息地变得越来越小，越来越孤立，占领它们的动植物种群容易失去遗传多样性。因此，必须了解景观改变，尤其是栖息地的损失和破碎如何影响人群的遗传学。我的研究计划着重于这个问题，更普遍地介绍了自然种群中的遗传变异是如何由周围景观特征来塑造的。我的实验室将检查景观中栖息地的空间布置在多大程度上，而不是简单的栖息地量，对于确定物种的遗传变异很重要。这是一个很难解决的长期问题，但是使用居住在紫色植物中的昆虫，我们已经开发了一种独特的自然研究系统，使我们能够这样做。我们还将检查与代谢有关的重要基因的变异，建立一个框架，以解决在实际景观中如何保持适应性或功能重要的遗传变异。我们的工作可以指导景观的管理以保护生物学多样性，并提高我们对栖息地的损失和分裂的理解，可能会影响人群适应其他环境压力的能力，例如气候变化或外来物种的入侵。