Ecological and genetic mechanisms of adaptive radiation

适应性辐射的生态和遗传机制

• 批准号: RGPIN-2016-04619
• 负责人: Schluter, Dolph
• 金额: $ 4.52万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=709355
• 关键词: Ecological; genetic; mechanisms; adaptive; radiation

The aim of my research program is to uncover the mechanisms that drive adaptive radiation -- the rapid origin and divergence of new species from a common ancestor. Many (perhaps even most) species on earth have arisen during such bursts, so they are key to understanding the origins of life's extraordinary diversity. Cases of adaptive radiation still in their early stages have great advantages for study because the rate of evolution is sped up, new species are still forming, intermediate forms are still extant, evolutionary events are frequently repeated, and young species remain capable of hybridizing. These features allow us to make rapid progress using a combination of observational, experimental, and genetic studies. Much theory has accumulated to explain how new species form, the mechanisms driving their divergence from one another, and how new species continue to persist. Work in my lab tests these fundamental ideas by addressing the role of natural selection and genetic variation in a species complex of threespine stickleback fish, which inhabit young lakes and streams of coastal British Columbia. This system includes some of the youngest species on earth in any organism. This study system has many advantages for study (it has been called an evolutionary “supermodel”). With collaborators, we have developed exceptional genetic and experimental tools for stickleback. These allow us to test fundamental hypotheses by manipulating the causes of natural selection (for example, predation), and measure evolution by tracking the resulting genetic changes across generations. The current proposal describes new experiments that focus especially on the role of competition and intraguild predation on the origin of species and their simultaneous divergence. Our work contributes to the development of fundamental concepts in biodiversity science. The work will lead to a better understanding of the factors driving the rapid origin of new species, and that enable their long-term persistence in nature. Our work has also provided a better understanding of how ecosystems change when new species collapse. Some of this work has immediate practical benefits. The stickleback species pairs that are the focus of much of our work are the most highly endangered group of fishes in BC, with two pairs already extinct. All are federally listed Species at Risk, and our work on species origins and differences continues to inform recovery planning.

我的研究计划的目的是揭示驱动适应性辐射的机制——来自共同祖先的新物种的快速起源和分化，地球上的许多（也许甚至是大多数）物种都是在这种爆发期间出现的，因此它们是这一过程的关键。了解生命非凡多样性的起源仍处于早期阶段对于研究来说具有很大的优势，因为进化速度加快，新物种仍在形成，中间形式仍然存在，进化事件经常重复，并且年轻物种仍具有杂交能力。这些特征使我们能够结合观察、实验和遗传学研究取得快速进展。 已经积累了很多理论来解释新物种如何形成、驱动它们彼此分化的机制，以及新物种如何继续存在，通过解决自然选择和遗传变异在物种复合体中的作用来测试这些基本思想。栖息在不列颠哥伦比亚省沿海的年轻湖泊和溪流中的三刺棘鱼。该系统包括地球上任何生物体中最年轻的物种。我们与合作者一起开发了特殊的基因这些使我们能够通过操纵自然选择的原因（例如捕食）来测试基本假设，并通过跟踪世代间产生的遗传变化来测量进化。竞争和群体内捕食对物种起源及其同时分化的作用。 我们的工作有助于发展生物多样性科学的基本概念，使人们更好地了解推动新物种快速起源的因素，并使它们能够在自然界中长期存在。了解新物种崩溃时生态系统如何变化。作为我们大部分工作重点的刺鱼物种对是不列颠哥伦比亚省最濒危的鱼类，其中有两对已经灭绝。是联邦列出的物种风险以及我们在物种起源和差异方面的工作继续为恢复规划提供信息。