Investigation of stressors on freshwater mussel populations

淡水贻贝种群应激源的调查

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-04641
• 负责人: Prosser, Ryan
• 金额: $ 2.4万
• 依托单位: University of Guelph
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=753368
• 关键词: Investigation; stressors; freshwater; mussel; populations

The greatest diversity of freshwater mussels on the planet is found in North America; unfortunately, they are one of the most imperiled group of organisms. For example, the southern portion of the province of Ontario contains 42 of the 53 freshwater mussel species found in Canada, and 13 of these species are classified as threatened or endangered. The traditional approach to monitoring freshwater mussel populations is resource and labour intensive (e.g., timed searches and quadrat survey). It can also take 5 to 10 years before the significant decline of a population is identified. For example, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans monitor freshwater mussel populations classified as at risk of extinction, but due to the large amount of resources required to monitor one species and the number of imperiled mussel species, they are only able to assess populations at a specific site on a five-year rotation. This generates the need for a more rapid non-lethal diagnostic tool to assess the health of a population of at-risk freshwater mussel species. Consequently, the ultimate research question for my program of study is whether changes in the metabolome will be an effective non-lethal measure of stress within freshwater mussel populations. The three short-term objectives of my research program focus on understanding factors that contribute to variation in the hemolymph metabolome of laboratory-cultured and wild populations. 1) Investigate the variation in the metabolome present in the hemolymph of freshwater mussel species native to Canada2) Investigate changes in the hemolymph metabolome of freshwater mussel species under various types of stressors.3) Investigate the variation in the hemolymph metabolome of wild freshwater mussel species in the Great Lakes basin of Ontario.Understanding basic drivers of variation in the metabolome is critical to characterizing the statistical power of using the metabolome as an indicator of stress in a freshwater mussel population. Hemolymph has been chosen as the target tissue because the volume required for metabolomic analyses can be removed without having an adverse effect on the individual mussel. The development of a non-lethal endpoint would allow for a direct assessment of stressors on threatened and endangered freshwater mussel species without having an impact on natural populations. The long-term objective is the apply what we have learnt accomplishing these three short-term objectives to expand the use of metabolomic analyses of hemolymph to investigate the effect of habitat alteration (e.g., temperature, nutrient inputs, total suspended solids, etc.) and microbiological threats on the health of freshwater mussels. The hope is that we can develop a diagnostic tool that will allow us to non-lethally collect data on the health of endangered populations, which could then aid in the development and monitoring of recovery and reintroduction plans.

北美洲是地球上淡水贻贝多样性最丰富的地区。不幸的是，它们是最危险的生物群之一。例如，加拿大发现的 53 种淡水贻贝物种中，安大略省南部地区就有 42 种，其中 13 种被列为受威胁或濒危物种。监测淡水贻贝种群的传统方法是资源和劳动力密集型的（例如定时搜索和样方调查）。也可能需要 5 到 10 年的时间才能发现人口显着下降。例如，渔业和海洋部监测被归类为濒临灭绝的淡水贻贝种群，但由于监测一种物种需要大量资源以及濒危贻贝物种的数量，他们只能评估某一物种的种群数量。特定地点五年轮换一次。这就需要一种更快速的非致命诊断工具来评估高危淡水贻贝物种的健康状况。因此，我的研究计划的最终研究问题是代谢组的变化是否会成为淡水贻贝种群压力的有效非致命性衡量标准。我的研究计划的三个短期目标侧重于了解导致实验室培养和野生种群血淋巴代谢组变化的因素。 1) 研究加拿大本土淡水贻贝物种血淋巴中存在的代谢组的变化2) 研究不同类型应激源下淡水贻贝物种血淋巴代谢组的变化。3) 研究野生淡水贻贝物种血淋巴代谢组的变化了解代谢组变化的基本驱动因素对于表征使用代谢组的统计功效至关重要代谢组作为淡水贻贝种群应激指标。选择血淋巴作为目标组织是因为可以去除代谢组分析所需的体积而不会对个体贻贝产生不利影响。非致命终点的制定将允许直接评估受威胁和濒临灭绝的淡水贻贝物种的压力源，而不会对自然种群产生影响。长期目标是应用我们在实现这三个短期目标时所学到的知识来扩大血淋巴代谢组学分析的使用，以研究栖息地改变（例如温度、营养输入、总悬浮固体等）的影响。以及微生物对淡水贻贝健康的威胁。我们希望能够开发出一种诊断工具，使我们能够以非致命方式收集有关濒危种群健康的数据，从而有助于制定和监测恢复和重新引入计划。