How Does Gene Flow Affect Local Adaptation and Population Dynamics?: Experimental Tests in Wild Populations and Mesocosms

该项目测试了基因流动的影响，即移民将基因从一个种群转移到另一个种群，对特立尼达孔雀鱼的当地适应和种群动态的影响。一方面，基因流可能会破坏局部适应性，并通过引入不适应的基因来降低适应性。另一方面，基因流动可能会增加健身增加遗传变异的小，近交群体。此外，基因流动可能对种群增长和动态产生重要影响。研究人员将在野生种群和受控的中生态系统（实验池）中进行实验，以测试基因流的影响。首先，他们将确定适应不同环境的鱼类移民如何影响野生种群的特征和适应性。接下来，他们将测试这些特征和适应性的变化如何影响种群动态。最后，他们将通过实验测试基因流的影响如何随种群之间的适应性分化程度和近亲繁殖水平而变化。本研究利用难得的机会，在野生和中型生态系统中研究基因流开始之前和之后的种群。这个项目的结果将告知保护计划，因为一个常用的，但很少测试，保护策略是人为地增加基因流。除了这项研究，研究人员还将扩大他们的创新“孔雀鱼工具包”计划，让中小学生在美国和特立尼达的课堂上使用孔雀鱼进行实验进化生物学。该研究还将为代表性不足的少数民族和特立尼达本科生提供实地，实验和分子研究方面的培训。OISE为研究的国际部分提供了共同资金。

This project tests the effects of gene flow, the movement of genes from one population to another by immigrants, on local adaptation and population dynamics in Trinidadian guppies. On the one hand, gene flow may break down local adaptation and reduce fitness by introducing maladapted genes. On the other hand, gene flow may increase fitness by adding genetic variation to small, inbred populations. Moreover, gene flow may have important effects on population growth and dynamics. The researchers will test the effects of gene flow using experiments in wild populations and in controlled mesocosms (experimental pools). First, they will determine how immigration of fish adapted to a different environment affects traits and fitness in wild populations. Next, they will test how these changes in traits and fitness affect population dynamics. Lastly, they will experimentally test how the effects of gene flow vary with the degree of adaptive differentiation between populations and the level of inbreeding.This study takes advantage of a rare opportunity to examine populations before and after the onset of gene flow in the wild and in mesocosms. Results of this project will inform conservation programs since a commonly used, but rarely tested, conservation strategy is to artificially increase gene flow. Alongside the research, the investigators will expand their innovative "guppy kit" program to expose elementary and middle school students to experimental evolutionary biology using guppies in the classroom in both the US and in Trinidad. The research will also provide training in field, experimental, and molecular research for underrepresented minorities and Trinidadian undergraduate students. Co-funding for the international component of the research has been provided by OISE.