Physiological Signatures of Thermal Tolerance and Local Adaptation in Fishes

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Understanding how different populations respond to changing environmental conditions throughout their species’ distributions is fundamental to the conservation of fishes. Temperature is one of the major environmental factors that determines the distributions of fishes. Phenotypic plasticity along with genomic divergence leads to differences in thermal tolerance phenotypes expressed among populations along environmental gradients. The mechanisms that lead to population-specific responses to high water temperatures in fishes are poorly understood. The long-term goal of my research program is to identify the physiological mechanisms involved in population-specific differences in thermal tolerance and to characterize the physiological signatures of local adaptation in fishes across large environmental gradients. I will use gene expression profiling and physiological assessments to identify responses to high water temperatures among fish populations throughout their natural and introduced ranges. In addition to their significant cultural, economic and ecological importance, Chinook salmon (