NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2017: A large-scale, experimental test of local adaption in the eastern oyster along a natural salinity gradient in the Gulf of Mexico

Johnson Kevin M, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

This is an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology, under the program Broadening Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology. The fellow, Kevin Marquez Johnson, is conducting research and receiving training that is increasing the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. The fellow is being mentored by Dr. Morgan Kelly at Louisiana State University. The project is focused on learning how oysters from different regions in the Gulf of Mexico respond to variations in temperature and salinity. This work is important because changes in land-use and rainfall can dramatically influence salinity and temperature in the Gulf. By investigating how present-day populations respond to changes in temperature and salinity, this research will provide a valuable resource to conservation biologists, state managers, and small-scale farmers as they maintain over 2 million acres of public and private oyster grounds that produced 14.5 million pounds of oysters in 2015. This research explores adaptations to local environmental conditions at three oyster reefs located along a natural salinity gradient in the Gulf of Mexico. Evidence for adaptation to salinity and temperature is being assessed by measuring three indicators of individual oyster health: (i) food ingestion rate, (ii) growth rate, and (iii) the heritability of environmentally-induced epigenetic modifications. Utilizing classic metrics for oyster health (i.e. ingestion and growth rates) across multiple generations will provide the necessary tools to determine if oysters from these three reefs are locally adapted to their native environment. This research also uses epigenomic sequencing to track DNA methylation patterns from the parent population (F0) to the second generation (F2). Tracking these environmentally inducible epigenomic changes across multiple generations is providing valuable insight into the heritability of these markers and quantifying the variation of these markers in natural populations. Finally, this work is broadening participation of under-represented groups in biology at both Louisiana State University (LSU) and local high schools. The fellow is mentoring LSU undergraduate students and encouraging them to participate in the Louis Stokes Louisiana Alliance for Minority Participation (LS-LAMP) program. The fellow also is working with eight local high school teacher and student pairs to establish a summer education course in bioinformatics, thereby communicating the utility of these tools in the natural sciences.