Environmental data loggers for ecological-genetic field experiments

当一个物种个体之间的遗传变异与物理和生物因素的环境变异相互作用，导致生存和繁殖成功的变异，即生物学家所说的适应性，自然选择的进化就发生了。在野外调查自然选择的动因，需要对遗传变异和环境变异都有很好的估计。最近，低成本、高分辨率的数字数据记录仪大大提高了生态学家量化关键环境因素（如温度、光照和水的可用性）变化的能力，这种记录仪能够在自然条件下长时间存储数千个测量值。这项NSERC研究工具和仪器补助金要求为环境数据记录仪提供资金，用于测量自然栖息地中温度、光照和土壤湿度的粗尺度和精细尺度的空间变化，以加强我们对植物生活史和生殖策略进化的研究。我们最近的工作使用生态-遗传领域实验来验证以下假设：(1)自然选择如何在交配系统中产生适应性的种内变异，以响应气候的空间变化和与其他物种（特别是传粉媒介）的相互作用；(2)对植物物种地理分布造成进化限制的生态和遗传因素。提出的数据记录设备包（HOBO微站和Pro v2记录器）将使我们能够量化试验田站点之间的大规模气候变化以及站点内温度的更细尺度变化，从而测试各种未解决的生态和进化假设。该设备性价比高，在生态实验中享有良好的声誉。除了采用新的实验方法，从而加强科学发现之外，拟议的设备还将为训练学生进行环境变化的空间分析创造机会，这在基础科学的许多领域以及在保护和农业生物技术方面的应用中是一项极其宝贵的技能。

Evolution by natural selection happens when genetic variation among individuals of a species interacts with environmental variation in physical and biological factors to cause variation in survival and reproductive success, or what biologists call fitness. Investigating the agents of natural selection in the wild requires good estimates of both genetic variability and variability in the environment. Recently the ability of ecologists to quantify variation in key environmental factors such as temperature, light and water availability has been greatly enhanced by low-cost, high-resolution, digital data loggers with the capacity to store thousands of measurements over long periods of time under natural conditions. This NSERC Research Tools & Instrumentation Grant requests funding for environmental data loggers to measure both coarse- and fine-scale spatial variation in temperature, light and soil moisture in natural habitats to enhance our research investigating the evolution of plant life history and reproductive strategy. Our recent work uses ecological-genetic field experiments to test hypotheses concerning: (1) how natural selection creates adaptive intraspecific variation in mating system in response to spatial variation in climate and interactions with other species (particularly pollinators); and (2) the ecological and genetic factors that cause evolutionary limits to the geographical distribution of plant species. The proposed package of data logging equipment (HOBO microstation and Pro v2 loggers) will enable us to quantify large-scale climatic variation among experimental field sites as well as finer-scale variation in temperature within sites, and thereby test of a variety of unresolved ecological and evolutionary hypotheses. This equipment is cost-effective and has an excellent reputation for performance in ecological experiments. In addition to enabling new experimental approaches, thereby enhancing scientific discovery, the proposed equipment will create opportunities for training students in the spatial analysis of environmental variation, an extremely valuable skill in many areas of fundamental science as well as applications in conservation and agricultural biotechnology.