Genetics of adaptation to environmental change in fishes

所有物种在行为、形态和生理上都表现出惊人的差异。我的研究计划的长期目标是了解进化如何产生非常适合环境的特征，并了解对不同环境的适应如何有助于物种的起源。我的研究项目结合了基因组学和对基因和性状进行自然选择的实地实验研究，测试了环境变化对三刺刺鱼(Gasterbone Aculeatus)的遗传后果。本种常见于北半球的许多温带沿海海洋和淡水水域。在上一次冰河时代之后，淡水环境在过去10 000年中反复殖民，导致淡水种群在适应这些新环境的过程中表现出显著的行为、形态和生理变化。然而，与环境变化相关的适应性特征进化相关的特定DNA序列变化在很大程度上仍不清楚。三刺鱼的平行进化和全序列基因组的可获得性为在自然界中测试这些问题提供了可能性。我们将从不同的环境中交叉刺鱼，以了解在反复适应淡水环境后表型和遗传变化的演变。试验田实验将测试哪些基因和性状是自然选择的目标。这一研究将对理解适应的基本进化过程具有广泛的意义。实现这些目标还将有助于更好地预测生物体如何随着自然界的环境变化而进化。总体而言，这些研究目标有助于保护环境，目的是确保生态系统对生态完整性和人类福祉的长期复原力和可持续性。

All species exhibit spectacular variation in behaviour, morphology, and physiology. The long-term objectives of my research program are to understand how evolution results in such traits that are remarkably well suited to the environment, and to understand how adaptation to different environments may contribute to the origin of species. Using a combination of genomics and field-based experimental studies of natural selection on genes and traits, my research program tests the genetic consequences of environmental change in a small fish, the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). This species is common in many temperate coastal marine and fresh waters of the northern hemisphere. Repeated colonization of freshwater environments over the last 10 000 years, following the last ice age, has resulted in freshwater populations that exhibit remarkable changes in behaviour, morphology and physiology in association with adaptation to these new environments. However, the specific DNA sequence changes associated with the evolution of adaptive traits in response to environmental change remains largely unknown. The parallel evolution of threespine stickleback and the availability of a fully sequenced genome offer the possibility to test these questions in nature. We will cross stickleback from different environments to understand the evolution of phenotypic and genetic changes following repeated bouts of adaptation to freshwater environments. Experimental field experiments will test what genes and traits have been the target of natural selection. This research will be of broad significance towards understanding the fundamental evolutionary process of adaptation. Achieving these objectives will also lead to better predictions of how organisms evolve in response to environmental changes in nature. Overall, these research objectives contribute to the protection of the environment, with the goal of ensuring long-term resilience and sustainability of ecosystems for both ecological integrity and human wellbeing.