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

气候变化正在引发更多极端天气事件，如火灾和热浪。除了悲惨的人命损失外，这些事件对动植物也有毁灭性的影响。生物学家面临的一个挑战是了解物种将如何应对这种气候事件--如果它们能够应对，或者它们是否会灭绝。为了应对这一挑战，研究人员必须确定极端气候事件发生后会发生哪些生物变化。这个项目试图了解太平洋西北部冷流中发现的尾蛙种群是如何应对一场大火和热浪的。在2020-2021年的火灾和热浪发生之前，研究团队已经对该地区的尾蛙的生理和遗传学进行了4年的研究。仅在这些事件发生一年半后，研究人员将测量青蛙种群发生了哪些生理、遗传和其他方面的变化。这将使研究人员1)了解青蛙如何应对极端气候事件，2)预测它们未来将如何反应，3)向当地土地管理人员展示他们的发现，讨论该地区青蛙和其他淡水水生物种可能的保护策略，4)培训博士后和本科生研究人员。物种可以通过可塑性和/或适应来应对极端气候事件。人口如何应对可能取决于环境变化的规模和严重程度，尽管对极端气候事件的反应的调查很少。四年来，研究人员一直在研究沿海尾蛙(Ascaphus Truei)的温度敏感性和适应能力，以预测它们对气候变化的反应。Ascaphus truei是太平洋西北部快速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烧毁了其中两条研究溪流的顶部。一年后，一场史无前例的热浪影响了所有的地点。这项拟议的研究将测试关于环境、生理和基因组水平上发生的变化对这些气候事件的响应的假设。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)测试基于遗传的对火灾和热浪的适应特征，以及(Iii)整合生理学和基因组研究结果，以预测种群的持久性因每个极端气候事件而改变的程度。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.