Evolutionary response to environmental uncertainty

自然环境在不断变化;变化可以是任何规模，并在所有时间尺度上发生。 超过99%居住在这个星球上的物种现在已经灭绝，剩下的物种是进化谱系的代表，它们在所有变化中幸存下来。 适应变化的研究具有广泛的适用性;例如，引起传染病的微生物的进化是一个快速适应新（宿主）环境的故事。 尽管它很重要，但关于生物体如何进化以科普变化，还有很多东西需要了解。 我们知道，适应有三种主要形式：1）随着环境的变化而进化的“跟踪”，2）在生物体的一生中进行可塑性调整以适应环境的能力的进化，以及3）安全或“对冲”特征的进化，以避免在困难时期的风险（类似于购买保险）。 关于这三种形式的适应的相对重要性，或者它们如何通过未来的变化相互作用以影响生存，人们知之甚少。这项由NSERC发现补助金支持的研究将通过使用新的实验室和现场方法，在理解生物对环境变化的反应方面取得进展。

Natural environments are constantly changing; changes can be of any magnitude and occur over all time scales. Over 99% of species that have inhabited this planet are now extinct, and the remaining species are representatives of evolving lineages that have survived all change. Study of adaptation to change has broad applicability; for example, evolution of infectious disease-causing microbes is a story of rapid adaptation to new (host) environments. Despite its importance, much remains to be learned about how organisms evolve to cope with change. We do know that adaptation takes three main forms: 1) evolutionary “tracking” of the environment as it changes, 2) the evolution of the ability to make plastic adjustments to suit the circumstances within an organism’s lifetime, and 3) the evolution of safe or “bet-hedging” characteristics to avert risk during hard times (analogous to purchasing insurance). Little is known about the relative importance of these three forms of adaptation, or how they interact to influence survival through future change. The research supported by this NSERC Discovery Grant will lead to progress in the understanding of organismal response to environmental variation by using novel experimental laboratory and field approaches.