NSF PRFB FY 2023: Mechanisms and evolutionary maintenance of thermal plasticity and adaptation in a splash pool copepod

Neylan, Isabelle P, Davis CA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2023, 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. In our rapidly changing world, it is becoming more and more important to understand how and when species will be able to adapt to stressors. In particular, increasing and more variable temperatures are a major threat that impacts physiological performance and species distributions. We know that species may adapt genetically to these stresses over time, but they may also acclimate more rapidly through changes that do not involve genes within a generation or even across generations. Parsing apart when these various forms of adaptation and acclimation should be favored and what mechanisms may be employed are crucial to predicting how species should fare under climate change. There is a large body of literature outlining under what environmental conditions we should expect plasticity versus genetic adaptation to be favored. However, less is known about what conditions favor different forms of plasticity (developmental, reversible acclimation, transgenerational) and how these various forms may interact to create optimal phenotypes. Using lab-reared populations of a common splash pool copepod that have been specifically selected to promote different patterns of plasticity, this project will be able to test theoretical predictions empirically and contribute to our understanding of how genomes interact with the environment to produce adaptive phenotypes. Additionally, there is a gap in knowledge surrounding the mechanisms behind these forms of plasticity. Epigenetic marks (i.e., DNA methylation) may be driving differences in gene expression that allow for species to adjust their phenotypes and physiology in response to stress. By combining an examination of the epigenetic signature of animals with known stress exposures and evolutionary histories (both lab-reared and wild populations) along with the extensive genomic and transcriptomic data from this study system, the fellow will examine the molecular mechanisms contributing to these broad-scale ecological and evolutionary patterns. Additionally, the fellow will strive to broaden participation in science by leading a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) and by participating in community outreach and engagement. The fellow will also engage in open and transparent science by sharing both results (sequences, data sets) and processes (code, pipelines) of this project. 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.