Eco-evolutionary responses to environmental change

Many species are currently threatened by global environmental change. Marine species are threatened by ocean acidification, warmer temperatures, and lower oxygen levels. Similarly, terrestrial species are threatened by changing patterns of temperature and precipitation. We are investigating how intraspecific biodiveristy - diversity between individuals within a species - may play a role in species responses to environmental change. If some individuals or populations are adapted to local conditions, such as warmer and more acidic environments, these populations may be an important source for future generations.

Eastern Oysters

Crassostrea virginica

Oysters provide important ecosystem services including water filtration and habitat for other species, but their numbers have declined due to a combination of fishing, disease, and declines in water quality. To better inform restoration efforts, we need to develop a better understanding of how well different oyster populations are genetically adapted to salinity and disease pressure.

Currently, the lab is conducting a comprehensive seascape genomics analysis of the Eastern Oyster. We have been working with the Eastern Oyster Genome Consortium and Eastern Oyster Breeding Consortium to analyze the oyster genome for genetic markers that confer disease resistance and adaptation to temperature and salinity stress.

We are also raising different oyster genotypes in a common garden in the Chesapeake Bay in collaboration with the Aquaculture Genetics & Breeding Technology Center at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in collaboration with Jessica Small. These studies will lead to a better understanding of oyster genetics, advanced applications in oyster breeding, improved restoration, and increases in aquaculture productivity. This research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the North Atlantic Fisheries Commission.

Eelgrass

Zostera marina

Eelgrass is one of a few species of flowering plants that can live underwater in the ocean! Eelgrass forms an important foundation species for

In 2023 we started a collaboration with Marlene Jahnke at Tjarnö Marine Marine Laboratory in Sweden, we are studying eelgrass adaptation to current and future projected ocean environments. Our research will be used by the country of Sweden to meet goals for eelgrass restoration under ocean change.

This research was funded by a Fulbright Award to Lotterhos and by the Swedish Research Council.

Spotted wing Drosophila: an invasive fruit fly

Drosophila suzukii

In 2025 we will be embarking on a new collaboration with Joaquín Nuñez (University of Vermont) and Nick Keets (University of Kentucky) to study this spotted-wing invader who is a major pest for berry crops. We will integrate genomics, physiology, and evolutionary theory to understand how seasonal adaptive tracking, local adaptation, and phenotypic plasticity interact to determine species' responses to climate change. This research is funded by the National Science Foundation.

Emergence of novel environments in the global ocean

In the past we have collaborated with a chemical oceanographer to estimate the amount that the global ocean will change under different Representative Concentrations Pathways. We estimated where novel environmental stresses (relative to current global conditions) may emerge, and where there are environments today that will be uncommon in the future (climate disappearance). We found that up to 82% of the surface ocean is estimated to experience an extreme degree of global novelty. Additionally, 35–95% of the surface ocean is estimated to experience an extreme degree of global disappearance. These upward estimates of climate novelty and disappearance are larger than those predicted for terrestrial systems.

Published in Science Advances,

Marine Invertebrates

Previously, lab research has shown how ocean acidification can narrow the window for fertilization success in sea urchins, and how both chemical cues and genetics influence the synchrony of coral spawning. In the past, the lab has also studied trans-generational responses of Eastern Oysters to ocean acidification with funding from the National Science Foundation. We discovered that oysters whose parents were exposed to acidic conditions grew faster than those who were exposed to normal conditions!

Did you know that oysters and other shellfish make their own shells? We still don't completely understand how this process of making shells will be affected by ocean acidification. This figure shows an example of how we monitor the response of the oyster, in the fluid where the shell is made.

Marine fish

We have also been also studying the responses of different species of marine fish to global ocean change. For more information on our research on marine fish, please see the research page under "Fish population genomics".

Did you know that many species of trees show adaptations to their environment? This drawing shows spruce tree seeds that are collected from Oregon (left side) to Alaska (right side) and all grown in the same locations. Trees in the south grow for a longer period of time because they are adapted to long growing seasons, while trees in the north grow for only a short period of time because they are preparing for long winters. These adaptations have a genetic basis, and understanding these genetic adaptations can help managers better plant trees where they will grow best under climate change.

Conifers

Many communities in North America depend on forests for their economy. However, the climate envelope of trees is changing faster than the trees can keep up. In collaboration with the AdapTree project of the University of British Columbia, in 2012-2018 PI Lotterhos studied the genetic basis of adaptation to climate in Lodgepole Pine and Engelmann/White Spruce hybrid complex. The primary objective of this project was to improve provincial seed transfer policy and operational forest management response to climate change. This unique dataset integrated genomic, phenotypic, and environmental data for hundreds of trees collected across the species range. We have discovered that some of the genes that control the response to climate are the same in both species, which was surprising because pine and spruce are as unrelated as humans and kangaroos (see Yeaman et al 2016). Lotterhos published a new method for integrating our different data types (genomic, phenotypic, and environmental) in multi-dimensional space, which will gave new insights into how trees respond to multistressor environments (Lotterhos et al. 2018 Genome Biology).

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