Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/C517525/1
Can parasites drive host adaptive radiation?
Fellowship Award
- Fellow:
- Professor ADC MacColl, University of Nottingham, Sch of Biology
- Grant held at:
- University of Nottingham, Sch of Biology
- Science Area:
- Marine
- Freshwater
- Overall Classification:
- Freshwater
- ENRIs:
- Global Change
- Biodiversity
- Science Topics:
- Population Genetics/Evolution
- Population Ecology
- Behavioural Ecology
- Abstract:
- Adaptive radiation is an important evolutionary process that may be responsible for most of the biodiversity that we see around us. It occurs when a single species invades new environments and differentiates over time into an array of new species. These new species evolve to differ in traits used to exploit their new environments, a process called local adaptation. What aspects of their new environments cause populations of a single species to become locally adapted and to differentiate into new species? In the past researchers have considered that changes in food availability, or in physical aspects of the environment are most the important causes of local adaptation. However species often acquire new parasites when they invade new environments, but the role of parasites in driving local adaptation has not been examined. In this project I will explore whether adaptation to new parasites is an important driver of the local adaptation that leads to population differentiation during the course of an adaptive radiation. Freshwater populations of three-spine stickleback are an outstanding example of adaptive radiation. These marine fish invaded freshwater after the last ice age. Freshwater populations differ in their ages (amount of time since they were isolated from the sea). Populations show strong local adaptation. I will use the adaptive radiation of three-spine stickleback in western Canada to investigate the role of parasites in local adaptation by answering the following questions: (1) Axe novel parasites an important source of selection when stickleback invade freshwater? (2) Do stickleback become locally adapted to new parasites in freshwater? (3) Does local adaptation to parasites cause stickleback populations to diverge? (4) Does local adaptation of sticklebacks to parasites contribute to reproductive isolation between stickleback populations? Reproductive isolation is the inability of populations to interbreed because either they fail to recognise each other as mates, or because their offspring are not viable. I will answer these questions using the following methods: (1)1 will compare the growth and survival of marine stickleback in the sea and in freshwater, in the presence and absence of parasites. (2) I will use held data to determine whether there is a relationship between age of populations and infection rates with different parasites. In a semi-natural pond experiment I will determine whether marine stickleback suffer more from freshwater parasites than do stickleback from an old freshwater population. I will also perform artificial infection experiments in which I will establish whether marine stickleback are more or less resistant to freshwater parasites than stickleback from an old freshwater population. (3) I will use field data to determine whether populations differ in their parasite faunas. I will conduct an experiment in which stickleback from two freshwater populations are exposed to parasites from each others lakes to determine whether sticklebacks are more or less afflicted by the parasites in their own lake. (4)1 will conduct artificial infections of crosses ('hybrids'~ between different lake populations to determine whether hybrids have lower resistance to parasites. If they do, then hybrids in the wild would suffer, and stickleback should avoid breeding with other populations, contributing to the evolution of reproductive isolation. I will be based at the University of Sheffield where several other researchers study host-parasites interactions and population differentiation and speciation. I will carry out fieldwork in western Canada in collaboration with researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Variation among stickleback populations has been particularly well characterised in western Canada and there are excellent facilities at UBC for carrying out my experiments.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/C517525/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Postdoctoral Fellowship
This fellowship award has a total value of £163,172
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Staff | Total - T&S | Total - Other Costs |
|---|---|---|
| £127,669 | £7,005 | £28,500 |
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