CAREER: Seasonal migration as an ecological barrier to gene flow between hybridizing species

职业：季节性迁徙是杂交物种之间基因流动的生态障碍

基本信息

批准号：
2143004
负责人：
Kira Delmore
金额：
$ 89.1万
依托单位：
Texas A&M University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Continuing Grant
财政年份：
2022
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2022-03-01 至 2027-02-28
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2143004&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
CAREER Seasonal migration ecological barrier

项目摘要

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).This project will test the role of migration in maintaining and generating biodiversity using state-of-the-art tracking and genomic technology. Individuals from nearly every animal group migrate and billions of individuals, migrate thousands of kilometers each year. Considerable variation in migration route has been documented but what is less well understood is the underlying genetic basis for that variation and the consequences for maintaining species boundaries or even promoting diversification of new species. This research will make use of a global network of radio towers to collect data on migration routes in the Swainson’s thrush, a migratory bird with eastern- and western-migrating subspecies. Individuals of this species, like many others, migrate from breeding grounds in the northwestern North America via central America and south into Chile each year. This project will evaluate the underlying genetics of migration route and the consequences of routes intermediate between the classical eastern and western routes for survival and the maintenance of the subspecies. Many of the radio towers are hosted by schools. Thus, research themes and infrastructure from this project will also be used as inspiration for teaching resources for elementary, secondary, and undergraduate students across the Americas. Education modules focused on migration and evolution will be designed for teachers, provided in English and Spanish, and offered to students internationally across the migration routes of the thrush. These modules will integrate ‘nature of science’ pedagogy and highlight the role of under-represented groups in STEM research while featuring international coordination as key to the protection of migrating species. Migration’s importance for speciation was proposed nearly three decades ago but has received far less attention. Many migrants breed next to one another but use different migratory routes. These routes are largely genetically determined and often involve navigation around large geographic barriers. Accordingly, hybrids in these systems are predicted to take intermediate routes that bring them over these barriers, reducing their fitness and gene flow between species. This project will test migration’s role in speciation. Specifically, state of the art infrastructure for tracking birds and genomic resources developed to genotype hundreds of individuals at low coverage will be used to (1) compare survival rates of parental and hybrid thrushes, (2) identify genetic variants underlying migratory traits, and (3) test if selection against hybrids is acting on these variants. No direct test of migration’s role in speciation has been conducted to date, leaving critical gaps in our understanding of speciation, given that differences in migration are taxonomically widespread and could help explain the predominance of young species pairs in the temperate region. Migration could also be a compelling example of an extrinsic postzygotic isolating barrier, given that reductions in hybrid fitness derive from mismatches between their intermediate behavior and parental environments. Extrinsic isolation is thought to be important in speciation, but its extent in nature is unknown, especially in vertebrates. This work will reach fields beyond speciation as well, including the genetics of complex behavior and conservation.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.

该奖项是根据2021年《美国救援计划法》的全部或部分资助的（公共法117-2）。该项目将测试移民在使用最先进的跟踪和基因组技术中维持和生成生物多样性中的作用。来自几乎每个动物群体的个人都会迁移和数十亿个人，每年迁移数千公里。已经记录了迁移途径的很大差异，但是不太了解的是这种差异的基本遗传基础以及维持物种边界甚至促进新物种多样化的后果。这项研究将利用全球无线电塔网络来收集有关Swainson鹅口疮的迁移路线的数据，Swainson的鹅口疮是一种具有东方和西方移民亚种的迁徙鸟。与许多其他物种一样，该物种的个人从北美西北部的中美洲和南部的繁殖地迁移到智利。该项目将评估迁移途径的基本遗传学以及经典东部和西部途径之间的途径的后果，以生存和维持亚种。许多广播塔由学校主持。这是该项目的研究主题和基础设施也将被用作为整个美洲的小学，中学和本科生教授资源的灵感。专注于移民和进化的教育模块将为教师设计，以英语和西班牙语提供，并在鹅口疮的迁移路线上向国际化的学生提供。这些模块将整合“科学的本质”教学法，并强调代表性不足的群体在STEM研究中的作用，同时以国际协调为迁移物种的关键。迁移对规范的重要性是在大约三十年前提出的，但受到了较少的关注。许多移民彼此繁殖，但使用不同的迁徙路线。这些途径在很大程度上是遗传确定的，并且经常涉及围绕大地理障碍的航行。彼此之间，预计这些系统中的杂种会采用中间路线，使它们越过这些障碍，从而减少了物种之间的适应性和基因流量。该项目将测试迁移在特定中的作用。具体而言，用于跟踪鸟类和基因组资源的最先进的基础架构为基因型开发的数百个处于低覆盖范围的个体将用于（1）比较父母和混合鹅口疮的生存率，（2）识别迁移特征的基因变异的基因变异，以及（3）如果对杂种的选择是对这些变异的选择，则（3）测试。迄今为止，尚未对迁移在规范中的作用进行直接检验，鉴于我们对规范的理解差异，因为迁移的差异在分类学上是广泛的，并且可以帮助解释温度区域中年轻物种对的优势。考虑到杂交适应性的降低来自其中间行为和父母环境之间的错配，迁移也可能是外部循环隔离屏障的引人注目的例子。外部隔离在规格中被认为很重要，但其本质的程度尚不清楚，尤其是在脊椎动物中。这项工作也将超出规格的领域，包括复杂行为和保护的遗传学。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准通过评估来诚实地支持。