Collaborative Research: Human-induced Phenotypic Variation in an Endemic Livebearing Fish

合作研究：人为诱导的特有活鱼表型变异

• 批准号: 0842196
• 负责人: Craig Layman
• 金额: $ 12.08万
• 依托单位: Florida International University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-08-01 至 2012-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0842196&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Human; induced; Phenotypic

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).One of the most critical threats to biological diversity is the habitat fragmentation and degradation caused by human activities. Significant advances in our understanding of the ecological effects of human activities have been made in recent years, however the evolutionary impacts of human-induced environmental changes are still largely unknown. This research program will investigate the effects of habitat fragmentation in a group of small fish in the Bahamas. The work combines field surveys, analysis of body form/musculature, whole-organism performance trials, laboratory-rearing experiments, and DNA studies to examine whether ecosystem fragmentation drives predictable and rapid evolution of body form and swimming performance.Estuary fragmentation is widespread in the Bahamas. This fragmentation results from construction of roads without effective tidal flow-conveyance structures, such as bridges or culverts. The resulting rapid and dramatic changes to these coastal systems leads to predictions of substantially altered natural selection regimes for resident organisms. This study will use evolutionary theory to develop and test predictions regarding changes in species traits following fragmentation, centering on endemic fishes, Bahamas Gambusia. The work will test the predictability of evolution in the face of anthropogenic impacts, as well as the ability of ecological restoration efforts to restore previous evolutionary trajectories. This project will integrate science and education in a variety of ways. In addition to training at least seven undergraduate students, the work will create a new outreach program, ?Everyday Evolution.? This program will be integrated with the science curriculum of a Bahamian high school, hopefully initiating a longer-term, and more wide-reaching educational module designed to teach the fundamentals of ecology and evolution to high-school students. With an understanding of evolution so low for much of the general public, there is no better time to demonstrate how natural processes can lead to rapid evolution, and how evolutionary ecologists rigorously test well-articulated hypotheses.

该奖项是根据2009年的《美国复苏与再投资法》（公法111-5）资助的。对生物多样性的最关键威胁之一是人类活动造成的栖息地分散和退化。 近年来，我们对人类活动的生态影响的理解取得了重大进展，但是人类引起的环境变化的进化影响仍然很大程度上是未知的。 该研究计划将研究巴哈马一组小鱼中栖息地破碎的影响。该作品结合了现场调查，身体形态/肌肉组织的分析，全体生物性能试验，实验室培养实验以及DNA研究，以检查生态系统碎片是否可以预测和游泳性能的快速演变。 这种破碎化是由于没有有效的潮流通向结构（例如桥梁或涵洞）的道路的建造而产生的。 这些沿海系统的快速和巨大变化导致预测居民生物的自然选择方案发生了实质性变化。 这项研究将使用进化理论来开发和测试有关碎裂后物种特征变化的预测，以甘堡巴哈马的流行鱼类为中心。 这项工作将在面对人为影响的情况下测试进化的可预测性，以及生态恢复努力恢复以前的进化轨迹的能力。 该项目将以各种方式整合科学和教育。 除了培训至少七名本科生外，这项工作还将创建一个新的外展计划，“日常进化”。 该计划将与巴哈马高中的科学课程融合，希望启动一个长期，更广泛的教育模块，旨在向高中生讲授生态和进化的基础知识。 了解大多数公众对进化的了解如此之低，没有更好的时间来证明自然过程如何导致快速发展，以及进化生态学家如何严格检验精心定义的假设。