Projects / Programmes
WETADAPT – adaptive and plasticity potential of ectotherm physiology to respond to climate change
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 1.03.01 |
Natural sciences and mathematics |
Biology |
Zoology and zoophysiology |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 1.06 |
Natural Sciences |
Biological sciences |
climate change, ectotherms, physiology, metabolism, water resistance, species response potential, evolutionary mechanisms, electron micoscropy, ecological models
Researchers (8)
Organisations (3)
Abstract
Predicting biological responses to global climate change and prioritising biota according to them is now of paramount importance due to the steep pace of world biodiversity loss. However, disentangling the complex ecological context behind responses of species life-history traits to global change is challenging. The multiple biotic and abiotic factors involved and the complex biological responses (short-term plastic responses to long-term evolutionary change) inherent to the study of climate change require a multidisciplinary approach. Central to this aim is a need for mechanistic understanding of biological responses for planning realistic conservation strategies. Modern science can provide this information using integrative study approaches and model species that occur across large environmental gradients that can serve as proxies for temporal climate shifts. For a long time, predictive studies of climate change impacts have relied on correlative approaches, not taking into account the adaptive/plasticity response potential of life-history traits, as well as mostly excluding physiology. Thus, we identified four basic requirements that are essential for further advancement of this scientific field that also form the four main objectives of the present project: 1) advancing our understanding how metabolism and water retention reflect current climate pressures in ectotherms; 2) understanding adaptation/plasticity potential; 3) improving basic understanding how water retention abilities respond to temperature and humidity variation; and 4) understanding the capacity of physiology to respond to predicted climate change. The proposed project will enable us to produce a major scientific output in terms of scientific publications in high-ranking journals. To meet the ambitious project goals and ensure feasibility of the project, we will use two known model systems that we have previous experience with and for which we have already collected samples in previous years. We will sample multiple populations across an extreme environmental gradient that differ in abiotic factors (temperature, humidity, O2 saturation, UV exposure, vegetation cover) that serve as a proxy for temporal shifts induced by climate change. Working together with experienced international and interdisciplinary team in the project WETADAPT, we will ensure feasibility and use of novel methodologies to study physiology and use advanced statistical tools. Project work will be organized in four work packages (WP). In WP1 we will define the current phenotypic expression of studied physiological traits and its response potential to changing temperature and humidity conditions. WP2 will focus on understanding genes under selection associated with physiology under variable environmental pressures. Next, we will focus on gene expression (WP3). Information on the phenotypic adjustments to variable environmental conditions along a great elevation gradient (WP1) will inform the genomic and transcriptomic analysis of WP2&3. In the last step of the project (WP4), we will analyse the response potential of physiology under predicted global climate change scenarios. We will do this by 1) composing a theoretical framework, and next, 2) building mechanistic models that will be translated into an explicit geographic context. Finally, 3) we will use methodology of spatial ecological modelling to predict response of studied species to climate change across species ranges. This result is anticipated to serve as a reliable indicator for the degree of vulnerability to global climate change. Finally, WP4 also includes considerable effort to dissemination of the scientific results among the scientific and general public (international conference contributions and media press-releases) to communicate scientific achievements to the public.
