Thermal Adaptation in Animals in the Temperate Zone - A Response to Rapid Climate Warming in Nature?

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。人口适应环境变化的速度，特别是适应全球变暖预测的温度快速变化的速度，是整个环境科学领域的一个关键问题。研究者之前的研究表明，温带地区对气候变暖的主要进化反应包括季节性或光周期适应；热适应似乎是次要的，需要更长的时间（数千年）来发展。在这个项目中，研究人员提出了一个聪明而可靠的测试，以十年为时间框架，测试猪笼草蚊子适应最近快速温度变化的能力。1999年首次测试了蚊子种群对实验控制的热环境的反应。PI现在将重新对这些种群进行采样，并在相同的实验条件下饲养它们，以确定蚊子是否对过去十年经历的温度升高做出了适应性反应。这项研究的结果将揭示使一些生物适应气候变化而另一些不能适应气候变化的基本机制。生物可能首先通过改变它们的季节活动来响应光周期来适应气候变化。有机体无法适应快速的热变化可能很快限制光周期调节所允许的恢复力。本科生将积极参与本研究。此外，该项目将继续作为快速环境变化后果的“典范”。迄今为止的成果已在30多次国内和国际访谈、流行杂志文章、电视和广播广播以及公开演讲中得到强调。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The rate at which populations adapt to environmental change, and particularly to the rapid changes in temperature predicted from global warming, is a critical question across the environmental sciences. The investigator's previous research suggests that the primary evolutionary response to climate warming in the temperate zone involves seasonal or photoperiodic adaptations; thermal adaptation appears to be secondary and to require a much longer time (thousands of years) to develop. In this project, the researcher proposes a clever and robust test of the ability of the pitcher-plant mosquito to adapt to recent, rapid temperature changes on a decadal time frame. Mosquito populations were first tested in 1999 for their responses to experimentally controlled thermal environments. The PI will now re-sample these same populations and rear them under the same experimental conditions to determine whether mosquitoes have responded adaptively to temperature increases experienced over the past decade.Results from this research will reveal basic mechanisms that enable some organisms to adapt to climate change while others cannot. Organisms may first adapt to climate change by shifting their seasonal activity in response to photoperiod. The inability of an organism to adapt to rapid thermal changes could quickly limit the resilience that photoperiod adjustment alone permits. Undergraduate students will participate actively in this research. In addition, the project will continue to serve as a 'poster child' for the consequences of rapid environmental change. Results to date have been highlighted in over 30 national and international interviews, in popular magazine articles, on TV and radio broadcases, and in public lectures.