Workshop to Establish a Collaborative Global Experiment to Understand Coregonid Adaptive Response to Changing Thermal Regimes

University Of Vermont & State Agricultural College, Burlington VT

Investigators

Abstract

Populations of fish are declining across the globe. While the specific causes of the declines are unknown it is suspected that they are related to changing ice and water temperature as lakes have experienced reduced ice cover and significant thermal warming in response to environmental change. What is needed is a globally coordinated experiment to test the causes for these declines. Funds are provided to support US participants in a two-day international workshop to design and coordinate a cross-latitudinal, cross-continental experiment to evaluate the ability of freshwater whitefishes (subfamily Coregoninae) to adapt to changing temperature and habitat changes across global latitudes. Workshop participants will design a large-scale common experiment to identify the causes and consequences of global scale changes in lake temperature and ice cover. This workshop will provide a unique opportunity to design and implement an international collaborative global scale experiment to assess the role of changing global thermal regimes on the role of adaptation and plasticity to changes in life history, physiology, and phenotype through genetic and epigenetic changes of a key freshwater fish family. It will be the first experiment designed to evaluate changing thermal regimes across a broad latitudinal gradient and provide a unique forum to ensure standardization, coordinated implementation, and robust data management. The workshop offers an excellent opportunity to integrate and encourage ecological and molecular approaches to enhance and strengthen understanding of environmental change impacts on global fish populations. Besides the direct fisheries management impacts of the research, it will serve as a significant training experience in team science for the participating graduate students and early career faculty. The workshop is a joint partnership between universities and federal agencies in the USA and French National Institute for Agricultural Research, with 25 participants from 13 countries. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.