EAGER: Testing for genes associated with migratory behavior in a peripatetic species

预计下一个世纪将发生重大的生态变化，包括海平面、年降水量、日气温、入侵物种的扩散和城市化的大幅增加。为了在这些变化中生存下来，物种将需要适应新的条件或迁移（分散）到合适的栖息地。许多物种由于地理、生理或社会限制而无法分散，而其他物种则广泛和经常分散。流散物种是迁徙物种，因为它们在相对较短的时间内以不同的地点为基地。人们经常假设，这些高度移动的物种将通过扩散经受住大规模的栖息地干扰。然而，这一假设很少得到检验，而且对游栖物种迁移的遗传基础知之甚少，而这是确定新生境扩散和定居可能性的关键。这项研究将揭示一个流浪物种的进化反应，以激烈的环境变化，预计在未来世纪。与此同时，它将提高我们对涉禽进化和行为的理解，并提供适当集中保护管理工作所需的信息。本项目还将支持生物信息学课程的开发和博士后研究员的培养。本研究以受威胁的美洲林鹳（Mycteria americana）为模式物种，研究了游栖物种迁徙行为的进化。一个完整的和注释的参考基因组将建立林鹳。全基因组重测序和全基因组关联分析将用于测试在美国东南部和古巴筑巢的居民和移民鹳之间的正选择基因。该项目将测试迁移候选基因的变异是否与最近鹳巢址的殖民化相关，并允许广泛调查涉水鸟类中这些基因的变异。这项研究将揭示进化起源和迁移表型的遗传结构在林鹳与广泛的影响行为的演变。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Significant ecological changes are expected over the next century, including substantial increases in sea level, annual precipitation, daily temperature, spread of invasive species, and urbanization. To survive these changes, species will be required to either adapt to new conditions or move (disperse) to suitable habitats. Many species are unable to disperse due to geographic, physiological or social constraints, while other species disperse broadly and often. Peripatetic species are migrant in that they are based in various locations for relatively short periods of time. It is frequently assumed that these highly mobile species will weather large-scale habitat disturbance via dispersal. This assumption, however, has rarely been tested and there is little known of the genetic basis of migration in peripatetic species, which is key to determining the likelihood of dispersal and colonization of new habitats. This research will shed light on the evolutionary responses of a peripatetic species to the drastic environmental changes expected over the next century. At the same time, it will improve our understanding of evolution and behavior of wading birds generally and provide the information needed to properly focus conservation management efforts. This project also will support the development of a bioinformatics course and the training of a postdoctoral fellow.This study uses the threatened American wood stork (Mycteria americana) as a model species to study the evolution of migratory behavior in peripatetic species. A complete and annotated reference genome will be built for wood storks. Whole genome resequencing and genome-wide association analysis will be used to test for genes under positive selection between resident and migrant storks nesting throughout the US southeast and Cuba. The project will test if variation at migration candidate genes is correlated with recent colonization of stork nesting sites and allow for surveys of variation at these genes in wading birds broadly. The study will reveal the evolutionary origins and genetic architecture of migratory phenotypes in wood storks with broad implications for the evolution of behavior.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.