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变化。我的研究计划的长期目标是了解进化如何导致这些特征非常适合环境，并了解如何适应不同的环境可能有助于物种的起源。使用基因组学和基于实地的基因和性状的自然选择的实验研究相结合，我的研究计划测试环境变化的遗传后果在一个小的鱼，三棘鱼（Gasterosteus aculeatus）。本种常见于北方半球的许多温带沿海海洋和淡水沃茨。在最后一个冰河时代之后，在过去的10 000年里，淡水环境的重复殖民化导致淡水种群在适应这些新环境的行为、形态和生理方面表现出显着的变化。然而，特定的DNA序列的变化与适应性性状的进化，以应对环境的变化仍然在很大程度上是未知的。三棘鱼的平行进化和全基因组测序的可用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棘鱼，以了解在适应淡水环境的反复回合后表型和遗传变化的演变。田间实验将测试哪些基因和性状是自然选择的目标。这项研究对于理解适应的基本进化过程具有广泛的意义。实现这些目标还将导致更好地预测生物体如何应对自然界的环境变化。总体而言，这些研究目标有助于保护环境，目标是确保生态系统的长期复原力和可持续性，以实现生态完整性和人类福祉。

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.