NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Ecological and evolutionary dynamics of biparental inbreeding and outbreeding in the intertidal copepod

Olsen, Kevin, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. The degree that mates are related, and the amount of common ancestry shared between them is an important element in the evolution of future generations of organisms. Inbreeding and outbreeding represent a spectrum of breeding strategies for many organisms, and both have costs and benefits that can stabilize or push patterns of mating toward one end of this spectrum or the other. This research aims to advance our understanding of why inbreeding is often prevalent in some species, and how environmental and genetic factors contribute to the balance between inbreeding and outbreeding. The fellow will gain invaluable experience guest lecturing in undergraduate courses, mentoring an undergraduate in an independent research project, and in designing an inquiry-based learning activity for K–12 students focused on evolution. Recent evidence of associations among organismal traits and inbreeding in marine invertebrates suggest that the dynamics between inbreeding and outbreeding plays an important role in driving major evolutionary transitions between reproductive modes and forms of dispersal. Adaptive differentiation in response to environmental heterogeneity may be a key process favoring the maintenance of coadapted genotypes and contributing to the surprising magnitude of inbreeding in some marine invertebrates with separate mating phenotypes. This research employs multigenerational breeding experiments, genomics, cellular assays, and assessments of fitness in the intertidal copepod (Tigriopus californicus) to investigate how mating systems emerge from genomes, phenotypes, and environments. The research addresses the hypothesis that local adaptation facilitates the evolution of inbreeding mating systems, and uses a common garden experiment to test the severity of inbreeding depression under conditions that match and mismatch temperature extremes in the site of origin. Moreover, the research evaluates the genetic factors that constrain mating systems, and quantifies inbreeding and outbreeding depression across a spectrum of parental relatedness. Under the guidance of prominent researchers in the fields of evolution and conservation genetics, the fellow will develop a multifaceted skillset focused on multigenerational hybridization, modern approaches to computational genomics, and population-level patterns of adaptation. 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.