NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Evolutionary genomics of rapid adaptation in wild threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus)

Tapanes, Elizabeth, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. Understanding the speed and likelihood of adaptation to a changing environment in wild populations is of paramount importance, because adaptation can restore population growth and forestall extinction. Theoretical and laboratory studies hypothesize that the source of genomic variation and population factors (for example, population size) can affect the probability and speed of adaptation. However, it is still relatively unknown as to how genomic and population factors contribute to rapid adaptation in the wild. The Fellow will use wild threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) to test how sources of genomic variation impact rapid adaptive evolution. This will increase our understanding of the underlying forces propelling adaptation and help predict whether vulnerable populations will be able to adapt or require further interventions to prevent extinction. The project will enable the Fellow, a Latina, to acquire advanced training in genomics and bioinformatics. The Fellow will also host a seminar series in Biology for post-docs historically excluded in the sciences to present their research and network. Threespine sticklebacks are an excellent system to study rapid adaptive evolution because freshwater stickleback repeatedly and rapidly diverged (< 12,000 years ago across multiple locations) from their marine ancestors. Thus, marine and freshwater stickleback vary in traits that are adaptive and likely play a role in niche use (for example, plate count, gill raker number). Multiple sources of variation have contributed to their divergence. But few studies have considered how crucial genomic and population factors impact the pattern of evolution in the wild. The Fellow will sample multiple independently derived populations to test how the source of variation affects the speed and likelihood of adaptation in the wild, by combining genomics and phenotyping. 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.