Evolutionary response to environmental uncertainty

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Natural environments are constantly changing; changes can be of any magnitude and occur over all time scales. Over 99% of species that have inhabited this planet are now extinct, and the remaining species are representatives of evolving lineages that have survived all change. Study of adaptation to change has broad applicability; for example, evolution of infectious disease-causing microbes is a story of rapid adaptation to new (host) environments. Despite its importance, much remains to be learned about how organisms evolve to cope with change. We do know that adaptation takes three main forms: 1) evolutionary “tracking” of the environment as it changes, 2) the evolution of the ability to make plastic adjustments to suit the circumstances within an organism’s lifetime, and 3) the evolution of safe or “bet-hedging” characteristics to avert risk during hard times (analogous to purchasing insurance). Little is known about the relative importance of these three forms of adaptation, or how they interact to influence survival through future change. The research supported by this NSERC Discovery Grant will lead to progress in the understanding of organismal response to environmental variation by using novel experimental laboratory and field approaches.