Applying evolutionary theory to biodiversity and conservation

将进化论应用于生物多样性和保护

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-04006
• 负责人: Mooers, Arne
• 金额: $ 3.64万
• 依托单位: Simon Fraser University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=660105
• 关键词: Applying; evolutionary; theory; biodiversity; conservation

My work integrates evolution and conservation. The basis of this work is phylogenetics, the science of inferring the family tree that links species one to another. Conservation and biodiversity studies have traditionally focused on species as the fundamental unit. However, an explicit evolutionary view captures the true complexity of biodiversity in a way that simple species counts cannot. That said, we still do not have a good roadmap of how past evolution (the tree) predicts this complexity. In this Discovery Grant cycle, I will investigate whether and how we can use phylogenies to more efficiently prioritize particular populations, species or areas for conservation activity and to predict the effects of biodiversity change under climate change. Efficient approaches are necessary to manage the ongoing loss of species and associated ecosystem services. They must also be based on fundamental evolution and ecological theory. **Our recent work is showing promise, but current "tree thinking" tools are still rudimentary. Here I propose to merge what we have learned in conservation phylogenetics and what we can glean from networks and network theory: such a novel mixed approach should better capture ecological variation among species, and better capture genetic variation among populations within species. **At the species level, we will identify which branches of the phylogeny in select taxa are most at risk of extinction, where the species that represent those branches are currently located, to what extent they are being adequately managed, and where they may move to under climate change. We will then ask whether those branches also represent at-risk ecologies - i.e. how well does "millions of years of evolution" capture "millions of years of adaptive change?" For instance, if phylogenies capture ecologies, then graphs of these ecologies should look more tree-like than network-like, and non-random losses of species should lead to concomitant non-random shrinking of total ecological variation. In a separate project, we will test whether the past history of high diversification is associated with greater genomic and adaptive change in a lineage. This mapping of history to change is necessary if we are to use phylogenies effectively to help manage and predict the future of biodiversity. **Below the species level, we will pursue two novel projects that link tree thinking to conservation. Because endangered species legislation must pay attention to and rank populations for conservation attention, new tools that can query networks (representing overall genetic or adaptive genetic variation) for populations of imperiled species may be of use to policy makers. We will test how our new network-based tools for ranking populations do at capturing total variation under different biogeographic histories of these species on the landscape. Our second project considers the current connectedness of populations: network graph theory (as applied to, e.g. computer networks) can be harnessed to measure how changes to the landscape can affect the future genetic and demographic connectivity of isolated populations. Both these network-based studies are grounded in fundamental research, yet both have downstream applications of increased relevance in the unfolding Anthropocene.

我的工作融合了进化和保护。 这项工作的基础是遗传学，这是一门推断将物种彼此联系起来的家谱的科学。 保护和生物多样性研究传统上侧重于物种作为基本单位。 然而，一个明确的进化观点捕捉到了生物多样性的真正复杂性，这是简单的物种计数所不能做到的。也就是说，我们仍然没有一个很好的路线图来说明过去的进化（树）如何预测这种复杂性。 在这个发现补助金周期中，我将研究我们是否以及如何利用生物多样性来更有效地优先考虑特定的种群，物种或保护活动的地区，并预测气候变化下生物多样性变化的影响。 必须采取有效的办法来管理物种和相关生态系统服务的持续损失。 它们还必须以基本的进化论和生态理论为基础。** 我们最近的工作显示出希望，但目前的“树思维”工具仍然是初级的。 在这里，我建议将我们在保护遗传学中学到的知识与我们从网络和网络理论中收集到的知识相结合：这种新颖的混合方法应该更好地捕捉物种之间的生态变化，更好地捕捉物种内种群之间的遗传变化。** 在物种层面上，我们将确定在选定的分类群中，物种发生的哪些分支最有可能灭绝，代表这些分支的物种目前位于何处，它们在多大程度上得到了充分的管理，以及它们在气候变化下可能会迁移到哪里。然后，我们会问，这些分支是否也代表了处于危险中的生态--即“数百万年的进化”在多大程度上捕捉到了“数百万年的适应性变化”？“例如，如果生态系统捕获生态，那么这些生态的图形应该看起来更像树而不是网络，物种的非随机损失应该导致总生态变化的非随机萎缩。 在一个单独的项目中，我们将测试过去高度多样化的历史是否与谱系中更大的基因组和适应性变化有关。 如果我们要有效地利用生物多样性来帮助管理和预测生物多样性的未来，这种历史变化的映射是必要的。 ** 在物种水平以下，我们将追求两个将树木思维与保护联系起来的新项目。 由于濒危物种立法必须关注和排名种群的保护注意力，新的工具，可以查询网络（代表整体遗传或适应性遗传变异）的濒危物种种群可能是有用的政策制定者。我们将测试我们的新的基于网络的工具进行排名的人口在捕捉总的变化，根据不同的地理历史，这些物种的景观。 我们的第二个项目考虑了种群的当前连通性：网络图论（如应用于计算机网络）可以用来衡量景观的变化如何影响孤立种群的未来遗传和人口连通性。 这两个基于网络的研究都是基于基础研究，但两者都有下游应用，在人类世的发展中具有越来越大的相关性。