The stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), one of the most important and interesting vertebrate species to study evolution, may also be one of the best allies to help understand the capacity and limitations of organisms to adapt to climate change. This is what researcher Sin-Yeon Kim, principal investigator of the Phenotypic Changes in Response to Climate Change: Experimental Studies in Populations at the Distribution Limit, aims to demonstrate. This is a three-year project (from October 2015 to September 2018) to which the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness has granted a grant of 182,710 euros.
“One of the problems we currently face is that we do not know what will happen to organisms with this global and consistent change in climate”, explains the researcher, who emphasizes that “it is certain” that phenotypes of morphology, physiology, behavior and life strategy will change depending on the plasticity and genetic variation of each population. “The problem is that these changes in phenotypes are not always adaptive and can even be maladaptive, so I hope that our studies will help to understand the capacity and limitations of organisms to adapt to environmental change”, emphasizes the project leader.
“Living on the edge makes us more vulnerable to climate change”
Until now, the evolutionary response to climate change has been approached through long-term correlational studies between phenotypic traits and environmental changes such as temperature, but currently it is necessary to carry out experimental studies that rigorously evaluate the cause-effect relationships that lie behind adaptation to climate change and that allow us to identify the mechanisms that condition the response of natural populations and, thus, predict their persistence. “The objective of our project is precisely to study phenotypic plasticity and the evolution of life strategies of animals in response to climate change”, emphasizes Kim.
Why choose the spiny dogfish and not another model species? “Because it is one of the most important and interesting vertebrate species to study natural populations, since they live in many coastal habitats in the northern hemisphere and the great variation in their phenotypes between populations represents adaptation to different environments”, emphasizes the researcher, who explains that the spiny dogfish populations in Galicia are very interesting because they are located south of the species’ distribution in Europe. “Living on the edge makes us more vulnerable to change and, therefore, studying the plasticity and adaptability of Galician populations to climate change can help us understand what risk animals are facing with this phenomenon,” explains Sin-Yeon Kim.
Two experiments, the first already very advanced
The project consists of two main experiments. The first of them, already very advanced, analyzes the effect of changes in winter temperature on different features of their life strategy, such as growth, sexual maturation and reproduction, and also relates this to other aspects such as senescence and life expectancy. The second will study whether the evolutionary history of different populations of thorny trees conditions the physiological response to temperature stress, which will allow us to know the consequences of climate change in these populations. “We have been working on this for around two years and the results already analyzed indicate that in a warm environment, thorny trees change their life strategy. When they grow in an environment slightly warmer than normal, they invest less in reproduction and, therefore, age more slowly”, emphasizes the project manager, while explaining that, now, thanks to the funding of this new project, they will be able to begin with the analyses of gene expression and hope to be able to detect the genes responsible for this change in life strategy.
Examining the evolutionary potential under different environmental conditions in various vital traits; analyzing the reaction rate of vital risks in response to the environment experienced during development; examining according to environmental conditions the maternal strategy in the distribution of resources between and within each litter or analyzing the genetic and physiological mechanisms that hide behind phenotypic plasticity linked to changes in temperature are other aspects that can also be analyzed with the data and samples already obtained.
The results of the project will, in the opinion of the researchers, be especially relevant for designing effective conservation strategies in populations that are at the distribution limit of a species.
From Korea to Vigo, passing through Scotland and Mexico
Sin-Yeon Kim is one of the researchers at the Evolutionary Ecology Laboratory at the University of Vigo, directed by Professor Alberto Velando. Originally from South Korea, she completed her doctoral thesis at Glasgow University in Scotland and, after this experience, moved to the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where she began to conduct studies on the senescence of seabirds in collaboration with the Vigo research group of which she is now a part and which she joined seven years ago.
Source: duvi
