Early-life climate sensitivity: direct and indirect mechanisms

该项目旨在通过确定在炎热条件下生长的雏鸟DNA损伤（短端粒）的机制来研究气候变化如何威胁动物种群。端粒是个体预期寿命的生物标志物，雏鸟的短端粒预示着未来种群生存能力的下降。我们的项目旨在确定热诱导端粒缩短的重要性：(1)雏鸟热应激反应；(2)热缩短精子端粒的遗传；(3)热效应的母体缓冲。预期的效益包括提高气候变化预测的可靠性，提高在人口明显下降之前确定减缓气候变化战略的能力。

This project aims to investigate how climate change threatens animal populations by determining the mechanisms causing DNA damage (short telomeres) in nestling birds growing up in hot conditions. Telomeres are biomarkers of individual life expectancy, and short telomeres in young birds predict a decline in future population viability. Our project aims to determine the importance for heat-induced telomere shortening of: (1) nestling heat stress responses; (2) inheritance of heat-shortened sperm telomeres; and (3) parental buffering of heat effects. Expected benefits include enhanced reliability of climate change predictions and improved ability to identify climate change mitigation strategies before population declines are evident.