NSF PRFB FY 2023: The Evolution of Multiple Stressor Tolerance: From Genes to Whole Organism Performance

Williams, Bethany L, Columbus OH

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. The study of multiple environmental stressors is challenging because potential interactions between stressors are complex. This proposal will provide insights into how tolerance to multiple stressors is shaped by ecological and evolutionary processes. Additionally, understanding how organisms respond to multiple stressors bears relevance to questions in basic ecological physiology and conservation, as organisms are faced with increasing anthropogenic pressures. Organisms that survive in environments with multiple stressors provide an excellent natural system to address these issues. This project will utilize the fish species Poecilia Mexicana, which exhibits exceptional tolerance to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and hypoxia (low dissolved oxygen), to address how multiple stressors affect gene expression, physiological traits, and organismal performance, both in terms of plastic responses of individuals and evolutionary responses of populations. To determine how hypoxia and H2S tolerances are correlated and shaped by genetic and environmental effects, this project includes three aims. 1) The fellow will quantify gene expression and physiological responses to individual and multiple environmental stressors in both adapted and non-adapted populations. 2) The fellow will test whether existing plasticity in response to one environmental stressor (i.e., hypoxia) can increase tolerance to another stressor (i.e., H2S). 3) The fellow will compare co-tolerance to multiple stressors in hybrids to test whether phenotypic correlations between traits are maintained when co-adapted gene complexes are reshuffled in hybrid offspring. In addition to research objectives, this proposal includes four overarching training objectives that include technical knowledge, development of job application materials, teaching/mentoring, and public outreach to help the fellow achieve their goal of obtaining a faculty position after the completion of this postdoctoral fellowship. Additionally, the fellow will engage in several community outreach programs at the host institution to build the local community's enthusiasm for science in an informal way and to make scientists more accessible to address questions of public concern. 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.