Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/P01058X/1
The conservation of climatically-adaptive genetic variation
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Dr R Whitlock, University of Liverpool, Institute of Integrative Biology
- Grant held at:
- University of Liverpool, Institute of Integrative Biology
- Science Area:
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Terrestrial
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Science Topics:
- Adaptation
- Biodiversity conservation
- Evolution
- Genetic diversity
- Population genetics
- Conservation Ecology
- Evolution & populations
- Genome organisation
- Plant responses to environment
- Abstract:
- There is an urgent need to understand the role played by adaptive evolution in buffering plant communities against climate change. This knowledge is fundamentally important in predicting biodiversity responses. However, it is also crucial in the design of conservation strategies, especially in ecological restoration, where practitioners may inadvertently create or restore habitat using seed stocks that are poorly adapted to local, or future climates. In this project, we will determine how climatically adaptive genetic variation is distributed across microclimatic niches in a natural landscape. We will then use this knowledge to optimise strategies for ecological restoration using wild-collected seed. A growing body of evidence suggests that plant and animal populations may be able to adapt and persist through climate change by evolving. Our recent research shows that the common grass species Festuca ovina has evolved in response to 24 years of climate change treatments at the Buxton Climate Change Impacts Lab (BCCIL). These evolutionary responses include changes in traits (phenotypes), and genome changes driven by a subset of adaptive gene variants. The long-term climate manipulations at BCCIL, applied to an ancient grassland ecosystem, represent an unrivalled opportunity to understand climate change impacts from genes to ecosystems. However, BCCIL is a single site occupying less than one hectare, and thus tells us little about climate responses in the wider landscape, where local "microclimatic" conditions vary widely. Understanding the distribution of climatically adaptive genetic variation in the landscape is critical, if we are to conserve species' adaptive potential, and select appropriate source populations for ecological restoration. In this project, we will use our previous research at BCCIL as a springboard to understand how adaptive gene variants are distributed in the wider landscape. We will focus on microclimatic niches associated with north- and south-facing grassland slope aspects in the Derbyshire Dales. These slope aspects differ strongly in moisture availability and temperature. We have two key aims (i) to determine whether natural microclimatic niches select for the same genotypes and phenotypes as comparable climate treatments at BCCIL, and (ii) to determine how the distribution of climatically adaptive genotypes in the landscape impacts on ecological restoration outcomes. Addressing these aims will allow us to couple a novel landscapescale characterization of climate responses (blue-skies discovery), with a strengthened basis for conservation and habitat restoration (tangible applied benefits). The project has three components: (1) F. ovina plants and seed will be collected from pairs of north- and south-facing grassland sites in the Derbyshire Dales. Trait measurements and high-throughput sequencing will be used to assess how plant phenotypes and adaptive genome variants are distributed across the landscape. (2) We will simulate the microclimatic conditions of natural grassland slope aspects experimentally using mesocosms that are angled to face either north or south. By populating ("restoring") these mesocosms with F. ovina seed from different slope-aspect microclimates, we will test whether successful ecological restoration depends on the use of climatically matched seed sources. A drought treatment will also be used to examine how topographical and atmospheric aspects of the climate interact to shape restoration outcomes. (3) We will assess whether commercial methods used to produce wildflower seed select against climatically adaptive genetic variation. F. ovina seed from south-facing grassland slopes will be grown to produce a seed crop at sgate Seeds. Phenotypic measurements and sequencing assays will be used to determine whether the process of commercial seed production leads to the loss of climatically adaptive genetic variation.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/P01058X/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- DTG - directed
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Industrial CASE
This training grant award has a total value of £88,292
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Fees | Total - Student Stipend | Total - RTSG |
|---|---|---|
| £17,296 | £59,998 | £11,000 |
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