Periodic Reporting for period 2 - MITOCHADAPT (Mitochondrial efficiency as a mechanism for local adaptation in a changing climate)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2023-09-01 do 2024-08-31
This project is centred on an integrative and collaborative research program to investigate the evolutionary potential of populations to respond to climate change and a potentially general mechanism of adaptation, namely increased mitochondrial efficiency. The proposed work will be a significant advance to the field by measuring the evolutionary potential of developmental thermal physiology across natural populations, testing an underlying mechanism mediating adaptation to a warmer climate: namely the thermal sensitivity of mitochondrial efficiency (ATP/O). Outcomes will advance both basic biological knowledge, and applied climate change responses which are of importance to EU citizens, by a) testing individual- and population- level variation to predict species-level responses to climate change, and b) identifying a potentially general mechanism for thermal adaptation that can focus conservation efforts. This will be the first project to incorporate population-level phenotypic patterns with mitochondrial function using a quantitative genetics framework. Measuring quantitative genetics in wild populations is a significant challenge to addressing our understanding of the impacts of climate change - studies of this nature are rare. Further, studies seeking to understand genetic adaptation almost never investigate this across scales of biological organisation.
It will use a combination of field work with laboratory measurements and techniques on natural populations of a widely distributed freshwater fish, and meta-analytical techniques, to target the following novel objectives:
Objective 1) Test for divergence in mitochondrial efficiency (ATP/O) and developmental thermal physiology across locally adapted populations spanning a wide latitudinal gradient;
Objective 2) Identify how developmental temperature affects ATP/O;
Objective 3) Determine how selection and heritability of developmental thermal physiology varies across populations, and how ATP/O may mediate temperature-dependent selection.
It will use a combination of field work with laboratory measurements and techniques on natural populations of a widely distributed freshwater fish, and meta-analytical techniques, to target the following novel objectives:
Objective 1) Test for divergence in mitochondrial efficiency (ATP/O) and developmental thermal physiology across locally adapted populations spanning a wide latitudinal gradient;
Objective 2) Identify how developmental temperature affects ATP/O;
Objective 3) Determine how selection and heritability of developmental thermal physiology varies across populations, and how ATP/O may mediate temperature-dependent selection.
This project uses a combination of field work and laboratory measurements and techniques on fish to quantify the evolutionary potential of thermal physiology during the sensitive, embryonic life stage and test a potential mechanism for adaptation to a warmer climate: the thermal sensitivity of mitochondrial energy efficiency. So far, one experiment has been completed and this work has been submitted for publication. In another experiment, field work has been carried out to sample natural populations of fish, to then rear and breed in the lab. A breeding design has been used to isolate the environmental and genetic sources of variation in embryonic traits (metabolism, developmental rate, and growth rate), and thereby quantify the potential of these traits to evolve under future warming. Hundreds of embryos from known families have been reared under different temperatures and measures of metabolism, developmental rate, and growth rate taken. A subset of individuals has now been sampled for mitochondrial energy efficiency. All data has been collected and results are currently being analysed.
This project has already combined a sophisticated quantitative genetics (breeding design) approach with technological advancements in mitochondrial energy efficiency techniques, to study responses of fish to a warmer climate. Upon completing analysis and publication, this work has implications for aquaculture and fisheries protocols and management. Through quantification of the relative importance of environmental versus genetic sources of variation in embryonic traits, this work will inform protocols for optimising rearing conditions of commercially important fish species. It will also inform fisheries and marine park management of the vulnerability of fish recruitment under a warming climate.