Collaborative Research: Predicting novel interactions between parasitic botflies and high-elevation deer mice under climate change

University Of Montana, Missoula MT

Investigators

Abstract

Environments around the globe are rapidly changing, exposing species to new environmental challenges. To understand the effects that shifting climates have on organisms, scientists must investigate how individuals respond to new environmental challenges, and how those responses alter species’ distributions and their evolution. High-elevation, montane ecosystems (~2,500 meters above sea level) are especially vulnerable to climate change, and numerous high-elevation species have experienced changes in their distributions or have gone extinct altogether. This project will test whether a flesh macroparasite, Cuterebra botflies, will expand into higher elevations with a warming climate, and whether this expansion will negatively impact high-elevation populations of one of its hosts, the North American deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) that currently do not encounter botflies. Data from this project will be used to develop new curricula for middle school students focused on analyzing and interpreting real data, as well as a series of YouTube videos aimed to increase understanding of the effects of climate change on biodiversity. The vulnerability of high-elevation species may result from their generally narrow ranges and the unrelentingly strong abiotic selection pressures inherent to these environments, which reduces a population’s genetic and phenotypic variation. At elevations near sea-level, infections with botfly larvae have pronounced influences on deer mouse physiology, but not on performance or survival. At moderate elevations however (~2,000 meters above sea level), however, botfly infections severely limit physiological function, over-winter survival and the ability of mice to perform ecologically relevant tasks. This project will combine field physiology along a steep elevational gradient (~sea level to >4,000 m asl) with demographic modeling, experimental manipulations, and genome re-sequencing to determine the consequences of ongoing and novel interactions between botflies and their deer mouse hosts across their broad elevational range. The data will be used predict future demographic consequences of botfly infection on deer mouse populations under climate change. The project will provide an unprecedented exploration of host-parasite dynamics in the face of novel interactions as a result of climate change. 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.