Integrating genomics and modelling to predict climate change response and identify drivers of decline in the endangered freshwater pearl mussel (Marga

为了保护继续受到环境变化影响的全球生物多样性，需要对气候变化反应的准确预测。最近的工作证明了基因组学对改进这些预测的效用(Waldvogel等人，2019年)，而且它有能力改变野生动物保护。虽然这些方法适用于所有生态系统和分类群，但它们的预测对具有国家重要性的物种尤为关键。贻贝对淡水生态系统的健康很重要，因为它们在水净化和营养循环中发挥着作用(Vaughn，2017)，但它们也是地球上最濒危的动物之一。淡水珍珠贻贝Margaritifera Mararitiera曾广泛分布于北半球，但现在被认为在其大部分范围内都是稀有的。在苏格兰西北部发现了一些最大的剩余种群(Cosgrove等人。2016)，使其成为该地区紧迫的保护优先事项。有几个因素导致了它们的减少，包括污染、捕捞珍珠和作为幼虫阶段宿主的低密度鲑鱼，但气候在这种下降中的作用在很大程度上是未知的，理解起来至关重要。

Accurate predictions of climate change response are needed to protect global biodiversity that continues to be impacted by environmental change. Recent work has demonstrated the utility of genomics for improving these predictions (Waldvogel et al., 2019), and it has the power to transform wildlife conservation. Although these methods are applicable to all ecosystems and taxa, their predictions are particularly critical for species that are of national importance. Mussels are important to the health of freshwater ecosystems because of their role in water purification and nutrient cycling (Vaughn, 2017), but they are also among the most endangered animals on the planet. The freshwater pearl mussel, Margaritifera margaritiera, was once widely distributed across the Northern Hemisphere, but is now considered rare across most of its range. Some of the largest remaining populations have been found in northwest Scotland (Cosgrove et al. 2016), making it a pressing conservation priority for the region. Several factors have contributed to their decline, including pollution, pearl fishing and low density of salmonids that serve as hosts for the larval stage, but the role of climate in this decline is largely unknown and critical to understand.