Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/T000597/1
Recurrent adaptation to industrial pollution: ancestral diversity and ecological succession
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor IJ Saccheri, University of Liverpool, Institute of Integrative Biology
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr AJ Betancourt, University of Liverpool, Evolution, Ecology and Behaviour
- Grant held at:
- University of Liverpool, Institute of Integrative Biology
- Science Area:
- Freshwater
- Marine
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Panel C
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- Biodiversity
- Evolutionary ecology
- Genetic diversity
- Population modelling
- Population structure
- Population Ecology
- Adaptation
- Evolution & populations
- Evolutionary genetics
- Gene flow
- Genetic drift
- Genetic variation
- Linkage disequilibrium
- Natural variation
- Population genetics
- Selection
- Statistical genetics
- Evolution & populations
- Adaptive processes
- Evolutionary ecology
- Gene flow
- Genetic diversity
- Molecular genetics
- Mutation
- Natural selection
- Population structure
- Population Genetics/Evolution
- Abstract:
- Natural populations adapt to novel environments via phenotypic variation that has its origins either in contemporary mutation events or in pre-existing ancestral variation, or both. Understanding the significance of these modes of evolution in real ecological settings is central to predicting the speed of adaptation to novel challenges, and thus to informed population management intervention in the face of environmental change - but we lack suitable empirical studies. Industrial melanism in the peppered moth (Biston betularia) has emerged as a top candidate for such a study. In Britain, the black (carbonaria) form is due to a singular recent mutation, whereas in continental Europe, preliminary data suggests a surprising diversity of mutations, some of which may be adapted to a pre-industrial and pre-agricultural, forest-dominated landscape. Thus, the celebrated British case may not be generally representative of the evolutionary origins of industrial melanism across the species' range. Natural heterogeneity in resting backgrounds, associated with successional turnover and extensive mature forests, may be the unrecognised factor maintaining the striking diversity of melanic forms in this species. By revealing the identity of the mutations causing melanism in continental European populations, estimating their age, and evaluating non-industrial environmental factors maintaining melanism, this project will resolve a major puzzle in this influential evolutionary biology case study, whilst at the same time providing a novel illustration of how the interplay between genomic architecture, ecology, and geographic isolation influences mechanisms of evolution.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/T000597/1
- Grant Stage:
- Awaiting Event/Action
- Scheme:
- Standard Grant FEC
- Grant Status:
- Active
- Programme:
- Standard Grant
This grant award has a total value of £647,487
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DA - Estate Costs | DI - Staff | DA - Other Directly Allocated | DI - T&S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £213,403 | £133,273 | £28,248 | £37,078 | £217,258 | £8,536 | £9,690 |
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