DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Can Hormone-mediated Maternal Effects Facilitate Adaptation to Changing Environments?

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

How organisms adapt to changing environments is a question that pervades all biological disciplines and is especially relevant given the pace of global climate change. Hormone concentrations are highly sensitive to environmental variation. In mammalian species, early exposure to hormones can have profound implications on offspring physiology, growth rates, and behavior. The goal of this project is to examine how the hormonal responses of wild red squirrels to environmental variation can adaptively modify offspring due to variable hormone exposure before birth. Red squirrels are an ideal study system to determine the importance of the endocrine system in adapting to changing environments because the survival and future reproduction of offspring can be monitored. The proposed research will integrate ecology, physiology, and evolution to understand the mechanisms by which animals can adapt to changing environments. Broader impacts include furthering our understanding about how organisms living at northern latitudes can respond to global climate change, training undergraduate students in field data collection as well as allowing them to participate in their own independent research projects, and continuing outreach activities with local aboriginal and underrepresented groups in the Yukon, Canada.