The role of eco-evolutionary dynamics in modulating the effects of environmental change in aquatic food webs

由于气候变化和其他人为干扰造成的物种史无前例的丧失，迫切需要通过进化和表型可塑性将适应性进化韧性纳入我们对生态过程的理解中，反之亦然(“生态进化动力学”)。理解与环境变化有关的生态进化动力学的两个主要知识缺口是A)气候介导的食物网对进化和时空可塑性的影响(将生态学与进化联系起来)和B)食物网中表型可塑性的生态后果(将进化与生态学联系起来)。我提议的研究将通过开发食物网生态学和进化生物学(基因组学、适应和表型可塑性)之间尚未探索的接口来解决这些目标中的每一个。我和我的学生将在两个气候尺度上工作：一个是从北冰洋到北极的粗略纬度尺度，另一个是精细的时间尺度，以解决在没有生物地理混淆的情况下，温度波动的影响没有得到充分研究。我们将重点关注桡足类和河豚的适应性和表型可塑性，因为它们在北方的广泛分布和丰富，以及它们与气候变化相关的潜在生态意义。我将培训2名博士、3名硕士和10名理科学生，他们将获得经验性和概念性技能的独特组合。我们的多方面工具箱将包括食物网络指标(脂肪酸)、基因组学(下一代单核苷酸多态(SNPs)测序)、性能性状的数量遗传学(耐温性、体格生长、体型和繁殖力)、田间实验和生态系统功能的大规模比较研究。食物网生态学和进化生物学之间不存在经验上的交叉，我的研究计划将在这个未知的界面上推进生态学和进化的基础知识。在气候驱动的生态变化速率的梯度上量化桡足类景观的基因组结构、适应性和表型可塑性，将向我们提供在水生食物网的基础上生物应对气候变化的进化韧性。表型可塑性可能在调节快速环境变化对食物网功能的影响方面发挥以前未被认识但意义重大的作用。在全球变化和其他人为活动下，维持加拿大水生生态系统的完整性是一项日益艰巨的任务。我的研究计划响应了加拿大对HQP的需求，这些HQP经过培训，通过从基因到生态系统的综合方法来应对威胁淡水生态系统生存的全球挑战。

The unprecedented loss of species as a result of climate change and other human-induced disturbance presents an urgent need to incorporate adaptive evolutionary resilience, through evolution and phenotypic plasticity, into our understanding of ecological processes and vice versa (`eco-evolutionary dynamics`). Two major knowledge gaps that are key to understanding eco-evolutionary dynamics in relation to environmental change are A) climate-mediated effects of food webs on evolution and plasticity in space and time (linking ecology to evolution) and B) the ecological consequences of phenotypic plasticity in food webs (linking evolution to ecology). My proposed research will address each of these objectives by developing the unexplored interface between food web ecology and evolutionary biology (genomics, adaptation, and phenotypic plasticity). My students and I will work at two climate scales: a coarse latitudinal scale from the Boreal to the Arctic and at a fine temporal scale to address the understudied effects of fluctuating temperature in the absence of biogeographical confounds. We will focus on adaptation and phenotypic plasticity in copepods and brook trout because of their broad northern distribution and abundance, and their potential ecological significance in relation to climate change. I will train 2 PhD, 3 MSc, and 10 BSc students who will receive unique combinations of empirical and conceptual skills. Our multi-faceted tool box will include food web metrics (fatty acids), genomics (next-generation sequencing of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)), quantitative genetics of performance traits (temperature tolerance, somatic growth, body size, and fecundity), field experiments, and large scale comparative studies of ecosystem function. An empirical intersection between food web ecology and evolutionary biology does not exist, and my research program will advance fundamental knowledge in ecology and evolution at this unexplored interface. Quantifying copepod landscape genomic structure, adaptation, and phenotypic plasticity across gradients in the rate of climate-driven ecological change will inform us of evolutionary resilience in organisms coping with climate change at the base of aquatic food webs. Phenotypic plasticity may play a previously unrecognized yet significant role in modulating the consequences of rapid environmental change on the functioning of food webs. Maintaining the integrity of Canada’s aquatic ecosystems is an increasingly difficult task under global change and other anthropogenic activities. My research program responds to Canadian needs for HQP that are trained to face the global challenges that threaten the sustenance of freshwater ecosystems through integrative approaches from genes to ecosystems.