Meeting: Predicting vertebrate responses to a changing environment: modeling genomes to phenomes to populations (G2P2PoP), Northern Arizona University, March, 2018

Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff AZ

Investigators

Abstract

A grand challenge in biology is developing an understanding of the mechanistic interrelationships among genes, environment, and phenotype, and how these interactions emerge at the population level. Limits in the understanding of these inter-relationshps constrain the ability to predict organismal responses to changing environments. This project involves a workshop to bring together scientists from mathematical modeling and biological fields that do not normally interact to discuss novel approaches and techniques to unraveling genotype to phenotype to environment connections. Specific workshop goals include: Identifying data resources that scientists can access; synthesizing how environmental drivers impact the genome-population hierarchy; and generating strategies, priorities and goals for research exchanges. Networking among participants will enable development of multilevel mechanistic models that integrate existing and new data to predict responses by vertebrates to environmental stressors. Of the workshop participants, about half are early career, over half are female, and many are underrepresented minorities. Scientific, regional, gender and ethnic diversity of the participants will broaden participation and expose participants to diverse social and scientific cultures. Through the synthesis of empirical science and modeling, new knowledge can be generated and used to inform key stakeholders including policymakers, land managers, and the general public. Finally, the workshop will promote teaching, training, and learning and thereby increase public scientific literacy and public engagement with science and technology. This workshop will advance discovery and understanding by fostering integration and synthesis of knowledge spanning from genomes to populations. This understanding is essential to the creation of quantitative models for predicting animal resilience and vulnerability to rapid environmental change. Modeling across levels of biological organization is inherently integrative, interdisciplinary and transformative. The objective of the proposed workshop is to coalesce biologists and modelers working at different levels of biological organization who typically do not interact. The goal is to establish a new collaborative network of scientists with expertise that spans from genomes to populations to facilitate development of novel quantitative approaches to address the urgent challenge of predicting how vertebrate species and populations will respond to a changing environment. Primary activities include: lectures by and discussion with prominent environmental scientists; fostering of discussion and interaction among mathematical modelers and organismal scientists; education of participants in predicted changes of abiotic drivers under various environmental change scenarios and by region; and establishment of training opportunities through exchanges between participating laboratories.