Collaborative Research: ORCC: Trophic phenotypes as eco-evolutionary mediators of resilience to climate change

随着湖泊和其他栖息地因气候变暖而不断变化，确定哪些生态系统和生物将最脆弱或能够持续存在是很重要的。美国缅因州的13个种群是这种适应寒冷的物种中最南部的种群，预计将面临气候变暖和物种入侵的挑战。我们假设，这些种群改变饮食和喂养特征的能力可能对它们未来的生存尤为重要。这项研究调查了其中四个含炭湖泊，以确定它们的栖息地和食物网有何不同，以及这与特定的北极炭行为和摄食特征有何关系。发出声音的电子标签将被用来在小尺度上跟踪单个字符的运动。20年的基因样本将有助于确定性格特征如何在适应或其他过程中发生变化。定量模型将用于预测饮食和栖息地的差异如何影响生长和种群生产力，以及随后北极炭种群对持续变暖和栖息地变化的适应能力。在缅因州研究北极炭黑不仅有助于该物种的保护和管理，还有助于评估与其他物种在其活动范围南部边缘相关的理论。该项目的科学家将与保护组织和管理机构密切合作，以确保获得的知识能够迅速有效地传播，造福人类。许多鱼类和其他分类群的边缘种群居住在小的避难栖息地，这些栖息地是孤立的，因此很容易受到相互作用的非生物和生物因素的影响，这些因素可能会把它们的生态位压缩到崩溃的地步。该项目测试了一个有机-生态-进化框架，用于评估营养性状多样性和气候变化恢复力的作用，将营养性状变异的遗传和塑料成分与人口统计学、栖息地和社区环境联系起来，并最终将生态进化潜力与持久性联系起来。位于美国缅因州的内陆北极鲑是该物种在北美最南部的种群。此外，有证据表明，缅因北极charr种群是营养性分化的，营养性状的变异可以随着资源的变化而变化。该项目将北极charr基因型、表型（形态学）、饮食和运动（声学遥测）信息与湖泊学和食物网结构信息相结合，以产生基因型、表型和群落变化之间的潜在机制联系。遗传推断谱系和全基因组测序方法将与表型数据和长期（20年）标记再捕获分析相结合，以估计影响当代性状不稳定性和种群动态的遗传和基因组参数。基于个体的模型将模拟不同温度、鱼类群落组成和湖泊生态系统类型下不同营养性状下碳的生物能量学和持久性。总的来说，这项研究将通过气候变化、种内和种间相互作用以及表型之间复杂的生态反馈来提高预测前沿种群命运的能力。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。

As lakes and other habitats continue to change in response to a warming climate, it is important to identify which ecosystems and organisms will be most vulnerable or able to persist. The thirteen populations of Arctic charr in Maine, USA, are the most southern remaining populations of this cold-adapted species and are expected to face challenges from climate warming and species invasions. We hypothesize that the ability of such populations to shift their diets and feeding traits may be especially important to their future persistence. This study investigates four of these charr-bearing lakes to determine how their habitat and food webs differ, and how this relates to specific Arctic charr behaviors and feeding traits. Electronic tags that emit sound will be used to track the movements of individual charr at fine scales. Twenty years of genetic samples will help determine how charr traits might change from adaptation or other processes. Quantitative models will be used to predict how differences in diet and habitat affect growth and population productivity, and subsequently the resilience of Arctic charr populations to continued warming and changes in habitats. Studying Arctic charr in Maine will help the conservation and management of not only this species, but also assess theory relevant to other species at the southern edge of their ranges. The project scientists will work closely with conservation groups and management agencies to ensure knowledge gained is quickly and effectively communicated for benefit. Many trailing-edge populations of fishes and other taxa inhabit small refuge habitats that are isolated and thus presumed vulnerable to interacting abiotic and biotic factors that could compress their niche to the point of collapse. This project tests an organismal-eco-evolutionary framework for assessing the role of trophic trait diversity and change in resilience to climate change, linking the genetic and plastic components of trophic trait variation to population demography, habitat and community contexts, and ultimately eco-evolutionary potential for persistence. Landlocked Arctic charr in Maine, USA, are the most southern populations of this species in North America. Moreover, there is evidence among Maine Arctic charr populations that populations are trophically divergent and that trophic trait variation can change in response to changes in resources. This project will integrate information on Arctic charr genotypes, phenotypes (morphology), diet, and movements (acoustic telemetry) with limnology and food web structure information to generate potential mechanistic links among variation in genotype, phenotype, and communities. Genetically inferred pedigrees and whole genome sequencing approaches will be integrated with phenotypic data and long-term (20 year) mark-recapture analysis of charr to estimate genetic and genomic parameters affecting trait lability and population dynamics in contemporary time. Individual-based models will simulate the bioenergetics and persistence of charr across trophic traits under a variety of temperatures, fish community compositions, and lake ecosystem types. Collectively, this research will improve the ability to predict the fate of trailing-edge populations through the lens of complex ecological feedbacks among climate change, intra- and interspecific interactions, and phenotypes.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.