Mechanisms of resilience to environmental change in eco-evolutionary systems

生态进化系统对环境变化的适应机制

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-04549
• 负责人: Barrett, Rowan
• 金额: $ 4.74万
• 依托单位: McGill University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=764493
• 关键词: Mechanisms; resilience; environmental; change; eco

Rapid environmental change poses major threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services. Response mechanisms to acute or chronic changes in conditions are encoded in a species' genome - as variation in gene regulation, DNA methylation, or protein sequences - resulting in physiological acclimatization and/or genetic adaptation. The capacity to acclimatize to environmental change has been studied extensively, while the capacity to genetically adapt (`evolutionary resilience') has only recently been addressed experimentally, and there are fewer examples still where multiple modes of physiological and genetic responses have been measured simultaneously. Importantly, we have essentially no empirical data showing how these distinct types of responses may impact complex systems in which ecological and evolutionary processes among distinct species affect one another. For example, physiological acclimation accomplished via changes in DNA methylation may be less likely to lead to the long-term persistence of a population than genetic adaptation via changes in protein sequence. These population dynamics can in turn affect other species by altering competitive, predator-prey, or host-parasite interactions, and thereby influence the capacity of biological communities and ecosystems to respond to environmental change and maintain the same structure and function (`ecological resilience'). Understanding the connections between these responses at different levels of biological organization requires a framework that considers evolutionary and non-evolutionary mechanisms of resilience at the population level, and the impact of these processes on ecological resilience. To achieve this goal, my research team will use diverse but synthetic approaches including field and lab-based experiments involving genomic, molecular, and biomechanical methods in a variety of organismal groups (lizards, human microbiomes, and fish) appropriate for addressing specific questions. The research will result in the training of high caliber students and PDFs with expertise in ecology, genetics and evolutionary biology, who will publish their research in high-impact journals. The broad training provided by this research program, with its emphasis on both field experiments and also cutting edge molecular tools and genomics, will equip students for employment in university research, government, NGOs, and the business sector in such fields as agriculture and biotechnology, the health sciences, environment, forestry and conservation. Collectively, our research will identify the causal mechanisms of biological resilience to environmental change, and thereby provide key information needed for informed conservation, management, and health policy.

快速的环境变化对生物多样性和生态系统服务构成了重大威胁。对急性或慢性条件变化的反应机制编码在物种的基因组中--如基因调节、DNA甲基化或蛋白质序列的变化--导致生理适应和/或遗传适应。人们对适应环境变化的能力进行了广泛的研究，而遗传适应能力(‘进化适应’)直到最近才在实验中得到解决，同时测量多种生理和遗传反应模式的例子仍然很少。重要的是，我们基本上没有经验数据表明这些不同类型的反应可能如何影响复杂的系统，在这些系统中，不同物种之间的生态和进化过程相互影响。例如，通过DNA甲基化变化完成的生理适应可能比通过蛋白质序列变化实现的遗传适应更不可能导致种群的长期存在。这些种群动态反过来可以通过改变竞争性、捕食者-猎物或宿主-寄生虫的相互作用来影响其他物种，从而影响生物群落和生态系统应对环境变化和维持相同结构和功能的能力(“生态复原力”)。要理解生物组织不同层次上这些反应之间的联系，需要一个框架，该框架考虑种群水平上的进化和非进化的复原力机制，以及这些过程对生态复原力的影响。为了实现这一目标，我的研究团队将使用各种不同的合成方法，包括基于现场和实验室的实验，涉及适合于解决特定问题的各种生物群体(蜥蜴、人类微生物和鱼类)的基因组、分子和生物力学方法。这项研究将培养具有生态学、遗传学和进化生物学专业知识的高素质学生和PDF，他们将在高影响力的期刊上发表他们的研究成果。这一研究计划提供的广泛培训，既强调现场实验，也强调尖端分子工具和基因组学，将使学生在大学研究、政府、非政府组织和商业部门就业，如农业和生物技术、健康科学、环境、林业和保护等领域。总而言之，我们的研究将确定生物对环境变化的适应能力的因果机制，从而为知情的保护、管理和卫生政策提供所需的关键信息。