| NSF Org: |
OCE Division Of Ocean Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 7, 2022 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 7, 2022 |
| Award Number: | 2205848 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Timothy Crone
tjcrone@nsf.gov (703)292-4344 OCE Division Of Ocean Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | December 1, 2022 |
| End Date: | November 30, 2024 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $314,090.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $314,090.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
85 S PROSPECT STREET BURLINGTON VT US 05405-1704 (802)656-3660 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
Burlington VT US 05405-1704 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | OCE Postdoctoral Fellowships |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
Copepods are some of the most abundant animals on the planet and play important roles in marine food webs and biogeochemical cycles. Ocean warming may negatively impact copepod populations, with cascading disruptions throughout marine ecosystems. However, in many regions, this warming occurs against a background of large seasonal shifts in temperature. Adaptation to the different conditions experienced over this annual temperature cycle may increase genetic diversity in copepod populations, better enabling them to cope with long-term warming. Understanding the effects of seasonal temperature fluctuations on copepod populations will enhance our ability to predict, plan for, and mitigate the effects of climate change on coastal fisheries and the communities that rely on them. Based at the University of Vermont, this project will provide opportunities to work with marine animals in a landlocked state, engaging students who may not otherwise have the chance to participate in the marine sciences.
This project will combine field work, laboratory common garden experiments, and population genomics to investigate the prevalence and adaptive significance of seasonal thermal adaptation in a dominant coastal copepod (Acartia tonsa) across a large latitudinal thermal gradient. This integrative approach will provide important insights into the genomic bases of thermal adaptation, how concordant these patterns are over spatial and temporal scales, and the potential for seasonally fluctuating selection to enable marine copepods to respond to long-term warming. This project has three specific objectives: 1) Examine seasonal variation in thermal limits in populations of Acartia tonsa from sites across a large latitudinal thermal gradient; 2) Quantify and compare seasonal and spatial variation in allele frequency; and 3) Determine if seasonally adapted genotypes differ in key fitness-related traits (thermal limits, body size, and the temperature sensitivity of egg production and hatching success). Because of their important roles in marine ecosystems, this mechanistic understanding of how copepod populations respond to spatial and temporal temperature gradients will help us better predict their responses to climate change, and provide key insights into the future of marine ecosystems
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.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Seasonal change in temperature are a familiar feature in coastal communities. While we experience these changes within our lifespan, many species have shorter lifespans, and experience these changes across generations - a generation from the summer would experience very different conditions from a winter generation. These across-generation changes in the environment can have strong effects on populations. One effect we're very interested in is whether these seasonal changes can drive rapid evolutionary adaptation in upper thermal limits, or the maximum temperature individuals can withstand. This kind of information can help us predict how populations will handle short-term (like heatwaves) and long-term changes in temperature.
In this project, we examined how common this kind of seasonal adaptation is in populations of the widespread and ecologically important copepod, *Acartia tonsa*. Copepods are small crustaceans that play important roles in aquatic food webs, passing energy from primary producers like algae up to consumers like fish and whales. We collected copepods from sites ranging from Florida up into Canadian waters at several points throughout the seasonal temperature cycle (making sure these collections were spread out enough to capture different generations). After each collection, we ran a series of experiments to measure upper thermal limits, and then measured body size. Each individual copepod was then preserved so we could link thermal limit, body size, and information from the genome.
We found that seasonal changes in both thermal limits and body size was common across all the populations we examined, and that these seasonal changes can be quite substantial. As you might expect, copepods from warmer waters (further south, or from summer collections) had higher thermal limits than copepods from cooler waters. We also found that copepods from warmer waters were much smaller than copepods from cooler waters (sometimes less than half as big!). The data we collected tells us that this kind of rapid seasonal adaptation is important for helping populations cope with changes in temperature over a range of different timescales.
Last Modified: 01/03/2025
Modified by: Matthew Sasaki
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