OCE-PRF Detecting signatures of multigenerational plasticity in a marine forage fish

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。沿海海洋生态系统面临多种人为压力，包括日益严重的酸化和缺氧事件。这些周期性但严重的环境压力因素可以直接影响沿海鱼类资源的丰度、多样性和商业价值。关键生理过程的快速适应可以在短期内提供对极端条件的保护。重要的是，这些表型改变可以传递给后代，从而使后代具有更高的耐受性。然而，对大多数鱼类来说，表型可塑性的范围和确切的作用机制尚不清楚。这严重限制了我们预测大多数具有重要生态和经济意义的海洋物种的反应的能力。本提案的总体目标是研究大西洋银鱼（Menidia Menidia）在缺氧和酸化共同发生时的代内和多代可塑性的潜力。大西洋银滨鱼是一种基础物种，是北美大西洋沿岸食物网的重要营养成分，是许多海鸟和重要商业鱼类的主要猎物。因此，了解该物种的长期生物能量影响和快速适应的潜力将从根本上促进我们对沿海海洋生态系统快速环境变化的生态后果的理解。该项目将围绕一系列实验室暴露实验和最先进的代谢分析，利用在春季产卵季节收集的野生大西洋银鱼。该项目将通过调节成熟的野生大西洋银鱼（F0）来对比波动的CO2/O2处理，研究亲代环境如何影响后代表型。然后，F1代将在互惠移植实验中饲养，以量化亲代和后代的治疗水平如何影响关键的生活史特征，包括生存、生长和有氧表现。存活的F1后代将被饲养至成熟，以评估在早期发育过程中经历的环境压力如何影响成年生殖能力。此外，PI将通过将F2后代暴露于祖父母和父母环境的因子组合来研究生物记忆在多代可塑性中的作用。与此同时，该项目将利用转录组学（RNAseq）和全基因组DNA甲基化谱（Methylseq）研究分子机制如何介导对不断变化的环境的快速适应。将分子变化与整个生物体的表型反应联系起来，将拓宽我们对多种应激源对生态重要物种的影响的理解，这将为制定缓解计划提供线索，以保护沿海食物网免受各种气候因素的影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Coastal marine ecosystems face multiple anthropogenic stressors including increasingly severe events of co-occurring acidification and hypoxia. These periodic but acute environmental stressors can directly impact the abundance, diversity, and commercial value of coastal fish stocks. Rapid acclimation of key physiological processes can provide short-term protection against extreme conditions. Importantly, these phenotypic modifications can be passed on to subsequent generations thereby priming offspring for increased tolerance. However, for most fish species the scope for phenotypic plasticity and the precise mechanisms of action are poorly understood. This severely limits our ability to anticipate responses in the majority of ecologically and economically important marine species. The overarching objective of this proposal is to investigate the potential for within-generational and multigenerational plasticity in response to co-occurring hypoxia and acidification in the forage fish Atlantic silverside (Menidia menidia). The Atlantic silverside is a foundational species and an essential trophic component of coastal food webs along the North American Atlantic coast and serves as key prey item for many seabirds and commercially important fish. Understanding the long-term bioenergetic impacts and the potential for rapid adaptation in this species will therefore fundamentally advance our understanding of the ecological consequences of rapid environmental change in coastal marine ecosystems.The project will be centered around a series of laboratory exposure experiments and state-of-the-art metabolic assays utilizing wild-caught Atlantic silversides collected during their spring spawning season. The PI will investigate how parental environments influence offspring phenotype by conditioning mature wild Atlantic silversides (F0) to contrasting fluctuating CO2/O2 treatments. The F1 generation will be then reared in a reciprocal transplant experiment to quantify how parental and offspring treatment levels affect key life-history traits including survival, growth, and aerobic performance. Surviving F1 offspring will be reared until maturity to evaluate how environmental stress experienced during early development affects adult reproductive capacity. Furthermore, the PI will investigate the role of biological memory in multigenerational plasticity by exposing F2 offspring to factorial combinations of grandparental and parental environments. In parallel, the PI will investigate how molecular mechanisms may mediate rapid adaptation to changing environments using transcriptomics (RNAseq) and genome-wide DNA methylation profiling (Methylseq). Linking molecular changes with whole organism phenotypic responses will broaden our understanding of the effects of multiple stressors on an ecologically important species which will provide clues for developing mitigation plans to protect coastal food webs from various climatic factors.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.