Examining and predicting the adaptive capacity of individuals to cope with environmental change

检查和预测个体应对环境变化的适应能力

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-06768
• 负责人: Semeniuk, Christina
• 金额: $ 2.91万
• 依托单位: University of Windsor
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=687696
• 关键词: Examining; predicting; adaptive; capacity; individuals

Over time, animals have evolved mechanisms to respond and perform optimally to expected ecological and environmental variation. However, when experiencing anthropogenic change certain species succeed while others fail, challenging our ability to accurately assess how, why, and when success will occur. I am developing a robust new approach of predictive systems ecology that recognizes that the positive and negative effects of rapid ecological change (REC) on population persistence depend on the species' adaptive capacity - the ability of the individual or population to cope and persist with change. My work and others' suggest behavioural flexibility (adjusting behaviours to environmental stimuli) is key in explaining variation in the success of species to resist REC. What is unknown however, is ways to identify whether the animal's adaptive capacity is more constrained by the biology of the species or by its environmental setting. To address this knowledge gap, one must additionally consider the individual's underlying physiological and/or genomic phenotype equally with the (a)biotic multiple stressors the animal is exposed to. My research program focuses on three objectives in specific systems under REC: i) the role of behavioural flexibility in mediating an individual's ability to persist in situ or shift to more suitable habitat; ii) how these behavioural traits integrate with underlying physiological and/or gene-expression phenotypes to generate physiological acclimation, allostatic overload, or the potential for evolutionary adaptation; and iii) how the resulting integrated response influences an individual's performance within a community context under various future multiple-stressor scenarios. I use a combination of sophisticated field, lab, and modelling approaches to couple behavioural-ecological data with performance under environmental stressors to determine the causes and consequences of decision-making under current and future REC. I am applying my framework to three Canadian systems in peril across taxa characterized by differences in life-history, fitness-maximizing decisions, and REC stressors that can constrain or uncouple adaptive capacity. Strategically however, they are unified conceptually by facing a common additional and increasing stressor: thermal stress. In each system I will test if animals capable of better tracking and responding to new changes in their environment will display positive performance and fitness, and whether the extent of an individual's inherent capacity to adapt can be constrained or affected by extrinsic factors such as environmental quality, competitors and/or predators. Together, my program is designed to help improve conservation strategies by more readily identifying and enhancing populations that have the highest potential to adapt to changing conditions. In the modern world, I posit this caliber of predictive power in the face of increasing environmental change is now more vital than ever.

随着时间的推移，动物已经进化出了对预期的生态和环境变化做出最佳反应和表现的机制。然而，当经历人为变化时，某些物种会成功，而另一些则会失败，这对我们准确评估成功如何、为何以及何时发生的能力提出了挑战。我正在开发一种强大的预测系统生态学新方法，该方法认识到快速生态变化（REC）对种群持续存在的积极和消极影响取决于物种的适应能力——个体或种群应对和持续变化的能力。我的工作和其他人的研究表明，行为灵活性（根据环境刺激调整行为）是解释物种抵抗 REC 成功差异的关键。然而，未知的是如何确定动物的适应能力是否更多地受到物种生物学或其环境设置的限制。为了解决这一知识差距，人们必须另外考虑个体的潜在生理和/或基因组表型以及动物所面临的生物多重应激源。我的研究计划重点关注 REC 下特定系统中的三个目标：i）行为灵活性在调节个体坚持原地或转移到更合适的栖息地的能力中的作用； ii）这些行为特征如何与潜在的生理和/或基因表达表型相结合，以产生生理适应、变稳态超载或进化适应的潜力； iii) 在未来各种多重压力情景下，由此产生的综合反应如何影响社区环境中个人的表现。我结合使用复杂的现场、实验室和建模方法，将行为生态数据与环境压力下的表现结合起来，以确定当前和未来 REC 下决策的原因和后果。我正在将我的框架应用于加拿大的三个处于危险中的系统，这些系统的特征是生活史、适应性最大化决策以及可能限制或解开适应能力的 REC 压力源方面的差异。然而，从战略上讲，它们在概念上是统一的，因为它们面临着一个共同的额外且不断增加的压力源：热应力。在每个系统中，我将测试能够更好地跟踪和响应环境新变化的动物是否会表现出积极的表现和适应性，以及个体固有的适应能力的程度是否会受到环境质量、竞争对手和/或捕食者等外在因素的限制或影响。总之，我的计划旨在通过更容易地识别和增强最有潜力适应不断变化的条件的种群来帮助改进保护策略。在现代世界，我认为面对日益加剧的环境变化，这种预测能力比以往任何时候都更加重要。