DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Eco-Evolutionary Effects of an Aquatic Consumer: Linking Phenotypic Diversity to Community and Ecosystem Responses

这项研究探讨了生态和进化过程之间的相互作用，通过研究一种常见的入侵鱼类--白鲈--在湖泊中的最新进化，以及这种进化对群落和生态系统动力学的影响。白鲈鱼成功地入侵了生产力梯度范围内的湖泊，这提供了可能导致鱼类形态、生理和生态作用改变的各种选择压力。这些鱼类的适应可能反过来通过几种生态和化学途径影响湖泊生产力和群落结构。该项目测试了这样一种假设，即单一物种内的这种快速进化差异导致了相对于不同鱼类物种之间长期差异的巨大生态影响。这项研究将对不同湖泊的鱼类进行受控饲养，以确定湖泊生产力与鱼类特征之间关系的遗传本质，这些特征包括身体化学、身体形状和摄食形态。此外，还将利用中游实验来确定鱼类特征变化对浮游生物群落结构和生态系统过程(如营养循环和生产力)的影响。通过使用播种有浮游生物和来自不同来源池塘的鱼的中微体，鱼和浮游生物来源的处理将交叉，并将鱼类入侵到新栖息地的相对影响与较长期的进化分歧进行比较。这项研究测试了一个生态进化框架，该框架是进化生物学和生态学最近的综合。这一框架有可能提供对生物多样性的原因和后果的一般洞察，并更好地理解进化和生态相互作用的速度。这一理论框架和研究使用了一种常见的鱼类入侵者，为涉及管理和保护生物多样性以及维持湖泊水质的实际问题提供了信息。该项目将加强一名研究生的博士论文，并为几名本科生提供研究经验。

This research addresses the interaction between ecological and evolutionary processes by examining the recent evolution of a common invasive fish species, the white perch, in lakes and the consequences of this evolution for community and ecosystem dynamics. White perch have successfully invaded lakes spanning a productivity gradient, which provides diverse selective pressures that may result in altered fish morphology, physiology and ecological role. Adaptation by these fish may, in turn, feed back to affect lake productivity and community structure through several ecological and chemical pathways. This project tests the hypothesis that this rapid evolutionary divergence within a single species has resulted in ecological effects that are large relative to longer term divergence between different species of fish. The research will use controlled rearing of fish from differing lakes to establish the genetic nature of the relationship between lake productivity and fish traits that include body chemistry, body shape, and feeding morphology. In additional, mesocosm experiments will be used to determine the effects of fish trait variation on plankton community structure and ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling and productivity. By using mesocosms seeded with plankton and fish from different source ponds, fish and plankton source treatments will be crossed and the relative impact of fish invasion into novel habitats will be compared to longer term evolutionary divergence. This research tests an ecological-evolutionary framework that is a recent synthesis between evolutionary biology and ecology. This framework has the potential to provide general insight into the causes and consequences of biodiversity and a better understanding of the pace at which evolution and ecology interact. This theoretical framework and research that uses a common fish invader informs practical issues involving management and conservation of biodiversity and maintenance of water quality in lakes. This project will enhance the doctoral thesis of a graduate student and provide several undergraduate students with research experience.