Experimental Evolution of the Temperature Niche
Virtual Evolution 2021
talk
Iain R. Moodie 
Emanuel A. Fronhofer
Abstract
The temperature niche of a population is the range of temperatures at which the population shows positive growth, and can persist. When populations experience increased temperature, such as during global climate change, one prediction is that their temperature niche can evolve to accommodate the new environmental temperature. However, if and how the temperature niche evolves in response to increased temperatures remains largely unexplored. Here, I empirically test how the temperature niche can evolve using four freshwater protist species that have been selected for population growth at increased temperatures for almost one year. In general, populations showed no signature of adaption, with rare exceptions, and overall trends were dominated by a decrease in maximum population growth rates as selection temperature increased. These results suggest that adaptation, via evolution of the temperature niche, is difficult from de-novo mutation alone, and may suggest that natural populations will have to be more reliant on other means of mitigating the effects of climate change, such as dispersal.
Citation
BibTeX citation:
@unpublished{moodie2021,
author = {Moodie, Iain R. and Malusare, Sarthak and Devillez,
Marie-Ange and Gougat-Barbera, Claire and Fronhofer, Emanuel A.},
title = {Experimental {Evolution} of the {Temperature} {Niche}},
date = {2021-06-21},
address = {ASN/SSB/SSE Evolution Conference},
url = {https://irmoodie.com/presentations/moodieEvolution2021.html},
langid = {en},
abstract = {The temperature niche of a population is the range of
temperatures at which the population shows positive growth, and can
persist. When populations experience increased temperature, such as
during global climate change, one prediction is that their
temperature niche can evolve to accommodate the new environmental
temperature. However, if and how the temperature niche evolves in
response to increased temperatures remains largely unexplored. Here,
I empirically test how the temperature niche can evolve using four
freshwater protist species that have been selected for population
growth at increased temperatures for almost one year. In general,
populations showed no signature of adaption, with rare exceptions,
and overall trends were dominated by a decrease in maximum
population growth rates as selection temperature increased. These
results suggest that adaptation, via evolution of the temperature
niche, is difficult from de-novo mutation alone, and may suggest
that natural populations will have to be more reliant on other means
of mitigating the effects of climate change, such as dispersal.}
}
For attribution, please cite this work as:
Moodie, I. R., S. Malusare, M.-A. Devillez, C. Gougat-Barbera, and E. A.
Fronhofer. 2021. Experimental
Evolution of the Temperature Niche. Talk (8 mins), ASN/SSB/SSE
Evolution Conference.