Collaborative Research: RAPID: Testing the Mechanisms and Consequences of an Adaptive Response to a Catastrophic Fire and Heatwave in Stream Frogs

气候变化正在导致更多的极端天气事件，如火灾和热浪。除了人类生命的悲剧性损失外，这类事件还对动物和植物产生毁灭性的影响。生物学家面临的一个挑战是了解物种将如何应对这样的气候事件——它们是否能够应对，或者它们是否会灭绝。为了应对这一挑战，科学家必须确定在极端气候事件之后会发生什么生物变化。该项目旨在了解在太平洋西北部寒冷的河流中发现的尾蛙种群如何应对大火和热浪的后果。研究小组在2020-2021年发生火灾和热浪之前，已经对该地区的尾蛙进行了4年的生理和遗传学研究。在这些事件发生一年半之后，研究人员将测量青蛙种群中发生的生理、基因和其他变化。这将使研究人员能够1)了解青蛙如何应对极端气候事件，2)预测它们未来的反应，3)向当地土地管理者展示他们的发现，以讨论该地区青蛙和其他淡水水生物种的可能保护策略，4)培养博士后和本科生研究员。物种可以通过可塑性和/或适应性来应对极端气候事件。人口的反应可能取决于环境变化的幅度和严重程度，尽管对极端气候事件反应的调查很少。四年来，研究人员一直在研究海岸尾蛙（Ascaphus truei）的热敏感性和适应能力，以预测它们对气候变化的反应。海岸尾蛙是太平洋西北部湍急溪流中的一种主要食草动物。他们测量了溪流的热特征，蝌蚪的热生理，并确定了与这些变量相关的基因组标记。2020年，一场强烈的森林大火在两条研究溪流的顶部燃烧。一年后，一场前所未有的热浪袭击了所有的景点。拟议的研究将测试在环境、生理和基因组水平上发生的变化对这些气候事件的反应的假设。这项研究将(i)确定受火灾和热浪影响的种群的热生理变化模式，（ii）测试基于基因的适应火灾和热浪的特征，以及（iii）整合生理和基因组研究结果，以预测每种极端气候事件导致种群持续变化的程度。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。

Climate change is causing more extreme weather events such as fires and heatwaves. In addition to the tragic loss of human life, such events have a devastating effect on animals and plants. One challenge for biologists is to understand how species will respond to such climatic events – if they can cope or if they will go extinct. To meet this challenge, researchers must identify what biological changes occur following extreme climatic events. This project seeks to understand how populations of tailed frogs, which are found in cold streams of the Pacific Northwest, have coped in the aftermath of a large fire and heatwave. The research team had been studying the physiology and genetics of tailed frogs in this region for 4 years before the fire and heatwave occurred in 2020-2021. Only a year and a half after these events, the researchers will measure what physiological, genetic, and other changes have occurred in the frog populations. This will allow the researchers to 1) understand how the frog responded to extreme climatic events, 2) predict how they will respond in the future, and 3) present their findings to local land managers to discuss possible conservation strategies for frogs and other freshwater aquatic species in the area, and 4) train a postdoctoral and undergraduate researcher. Species can respond to extreme climatic events via plasticity and/or adaptation. How populations respond may depend on the magnitude and severity of environmental change, although investigations of responses to extreme climatic events are rare. For four years, the researchers have been studying the thermal sensitivity and adaptive capacity of coastal tailed frogs (Ascaphus truei), a dominant herbivore in fast-flowing streams in the Pacific Northwest, to predict their responses to climate change. They have measured stream thermal characteristics, tadpole thermal physiology, and identified genomic markers associated with those variables. In 2020, an intense forest fire burned on top of two of the study streams. A year later, an unprecedented heatwave impacted all of the sites. The proposed research will test hypotheses about changes that have occurred at the environmental, physiological, and genomic levels in response to these climatic events. This research will (i) identify patterns of thermal physiological change in fire- and heatwave-affected populations, (ii) test for signatures of genetically-based adaptation to the fire and heatwave, and (iii) integrate physiological and genomic findings to predict the degree to which persistence of populations changes as a result of each extreme climatic event.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.