SubsidieMeestersPathways to survival in a hotter world
HotLife aims to investigate heat tolerance in birds through advanced physiology and genomics to understand its evolutionary potential and implications for survival under climate change.
Projectdetails
Introduction
Global warming and heatwaves are hallmarks of climate change that are expected to worsen in the 21st century. These phenomena diminish reproductive success and cause excess mortality in wild and domesticated animal populations. Yet, we still have sub-standard knowledge of almost all fundamental traits that mediate success or failure under climate change. For most animals, there are no data on the extent to which plasticity, local adaptation, or evolutionary change can alleviate the stress imposed by a hotter world. Collectively, therefore, the research field is at a status quo.
Objectives of HotLife
To mitigate this situation, HotLife will leverage my previous phenomenological studies on ontogenetic priming and plasticity of thermoregulatory capacity to generate novel knowledge on when and why animals fail in the heat. Additionally, it will explore whether plastic or evolutionary responses may render failure a less likely outcome in the future.
Expected Outcomes
The main outcomes of HotLife will reveal:
- How heat tolerance manifests, how much it can evolve, and whether plasticity halts evolutionary rescue.
- Whether climate warming and climatic extremes directly or indirectly cut life expectancy short.
- If the physiological basis for heat tolerance is inherited in the wild and if it is already being selected upon.
Methodology
I will achieve these ambitious goals by combining state-of-the-art thermal and sub-cellular physiology with intricate genomic techniques and powerful heritability analyses in captive and wild bird models. This endotherm group is where heat-induced mass mortality is most frequently reported.
Significance of HotLife
HotLife goes beyond the state-of-the-art by:
i. Bridging crucial knowledge gaps between heat failure in birds, its physiological basis, and its links to fitness and survival.
ii. Addressing the potential for rescue by plasticity or evolution from these effects.
iii. Uncovering evidence for local adaptation and heritability of heat tolerance in the wild.
Financiële details & Tijdlijn
Financiële details
| Subsidiebedrag | € 1.999.966 |
| Totale projectbegroting | € 1.999.966 |
Tijdlijn
| Startdatum | 1-5-2025 |
| Einddatum | 30-4-2030 |
| Subsidiejaar | 2025 |
Partners & Locaties
Projectpartners
- LUNDS UNIVERSITETpenvoerder
Land(en)
Vergelijkbare projecten binnen European Research Council
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The genomic adaptations to cope with unpredictable climates over the course of life
This project aims to uncover the genomic basis of thermal resilience in ostriches to understand how large animals adapt to temperature fluctuations throughout their life stages.
Molecular mechanisms and consequences of thermal stress rippling through changing aquatic environments
This project investigates the effects of heat stress on early life stages of aquatic ectotherms, focusing on its propagation, mutagenic potential, and genomic responses to enhance understanding of evolutionary adaptation to climate change.
The role of the gut microbiome in host responses to environmental variation: within and across generations and species
This project investigates how the gut microbiome influences wild birds' responses to temperature variation, using advanced methods to uncover molecular, genetic, and evolutionary mechanisms.
Using thermal limits to understand community response to climate warming
This project aims to predict the thermal vulnerability of multi-trophic lake communities to climate change by integrating species interactions, acclimation, and food web dynamics through experimental and modeling approaches.
Islands as natural laboratories of global warming: discovering insects’ ability to survive thermal extremes
IGNITE investigates insect resilience to extreme heat through interdisciplinary methods, aiming to understand their adaptability and its ecological impacts in the face of global warming.