About the Project
Background
The ability of plant populations to tolerate heavy metal contamination on old mining sites represents a text-book example of evolution. In many of these systems, heavy-metal (HM) tolerant and sensitive populations are separated by only a few metres, and so local adaptation is thought to have evolved in sympatry, in the face of substantial gene-flow. However, the extent of gene-flow, either between or within juxtaposed populations has never been directly quantified. This demographic information is critically important, first for informing studies of the evolution of heavy metal tolerance, and second for managing locally adapted populations in a conservation context.
Objectives
This project will focus on the grass Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal grass) at Trelogan Mine and other nearby lead mining sites in North Wales. Our primary aim is to directly quantify maladaptive gene-flow from non-contaminated pasture populations onto HM contaminated spoil heaps, as well as to assess the extent of gene-flow within the HM-tolerant population. The project also aims:
(i) to assess the consequences of HM tolerance for competitive ability and drought tolerance and
(ii) to assess HM-associated populations in the wider landscape, to determine whether these should be managed as discrete evolutionary units.
The lead mine study system at Trelogan has provided a text-book example of evolution. However, fundamental aspects of the story, including the extent of gene-flow from nearby non-adapted plants, are not well understood, and have never been directly quantified. Our project will fill this knowledge gap. The study species, A. odoratum, is a key component of HM-tolerant Calaminarian grassland—a UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority habitat. The results of the study will, therefore, inform management strategies for the conservation of these unusual grasslands.
Funding Notes
This project is available to self-funded students. The PhD will start in October 2017. Applicants should have, or be expecting to receive, a least 2.1 Hons degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject.
Applications (CV, letter of application, 2 referees) by email to [Email Address Removed]
A fees bursary may be available.
References
Whitlock, R., Hipperson, H., Thompson, D. B. A., Butlin, R. K., Burke, T. 2016. Consequences of in-situ strategies for the conservation of plant genetic diversity. Biological Conservation 203, 134–142.
Ravenscroft, CH, Whitlock, R, Fridley, JD, 2015. Rapid genetic divergence in response to 15 years of simulated climate change. Global Change Biology 21, 4165–4176.
Neaves LE, Whitlock R, Piertney SB, Burke T, Butlin RK, Hollingsworth PM (2015). Implications of climate change for genetic diversity and evolvability in the UK. Technical paper for the Terrestrial Biodiversity Climate Change Impacts Summary Report, Living with Environmental Change.
Endler, L., A.J. Betancourt, V. Nolte, and C. Schlötterer. 2016. Reconciling differences in Pool-GWAS between populations: a case study of female abdominal pigmentation in Drosophila melanogaster, Genetics 202: 843-855; doi: 10.1534/genetics.115.183376.
Hodgson, J. A., Bennie, J. J., Dale, G., Longley, N., Wilson, R. J., & Thomas, C. D. (2015). Predicting microscale shifts in the distribution of the butterfly Plebejus argus at the northern edge of its range. Ecography, 38(10), 998-1005. doi:10.1111/ecog.00825.