潮间带温度异质性对条纹隔贻贝种群动态的影响及其生理和进化适应机制

为准确评估气候变暖对种群动态的影响，须准确了解生物所经历的实际温度胁迫，分析微生境小尺度温度变化的生态效应，并查明种群内生理耐受能力的多样性及其与种群动态的相关性。本项目以潮间带条纹隔贻贝为研究对象，通过测定和分析生物体温，查明生物所面临的温度胁迫及其时空变化格局，同时在不同地点（舟山、温州、泉州、东山和深圳）定期测定生物在不同微生境的分布与多度，进而整合生物体温和种群动态数据，分析微生境温度与生物种群动态的相关性；利用转录组高通量测序方法，比较分析不同微生境/种群之间基因表达模式的差异，查明条纹隔贻贝对温度胁迫的分子响应机制；利用简化基因组测序方法，从基因组水平上揭示条纹隔贻贝的遗传结构，重点查明造成个体及种群间生理适应能力差异的遗传机理。本研究的顺利实施可揭示小尺度温度异质性和个体间生理多样性对种群动态的影响，为准确评估气候变暖的生态效应提供理论支持。

It is crucial to study the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of thermal environment and biological responses to them to understand the ecological impacts of global warming. Thermal environment is highly variable in different spatiotemporal scales, and the physiological adaptations of organisms to thermal stress are also highly variable among different individuals or different populations. The high level of thermal heterogeneity and “physiological diversity” are important for the resistance and resilience of a community to the current levels of thermal stress and for coping with future climate change. Many intertidal species have already lived closely to their thermal limits and rocky shore communities are very sensitive to climate change. In the intertidal zone, the thermal environments are highly heterogeneous among different microhabitats and many intertidal species showed high physiological polymorphism. Therefore, it is urgent and necessary to study the physiological performance among different microhabitats and populations over time, to clarify the relationship between genotypic variation and phenotypic variation. This project aims to achieve the following goals: (1) characterization of the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of thermal environments; (2) physiological diversity within and between populations of a mussel Septifer virgatus; (3) clarification of whether this physiological variation is environmentally induced or a result of fixed genetic differences among individuals by using Next-Generation Sequencing. This project will be important for risk assessment of intertidal communities and for evaluating the vulnerability of aquaculture species to climate change.