Identifying Adaptive Responses of Polar Fishes in a Vulnerable Ecosystem

Understanding these trade-offs will provide valuable insight into the capacity species have for responses to climate change via phenotypic plasticity. As an extension to functional measurements, this study will use evolutionary approaches to map variation in physiological responses onto the phylogeny of these fishes and the genetic diversity within species. These approaches offer insight into the historical constraints and future potential for evolutionary optimization.

The research will significantly expand the genomic resources available to polar researchers and will support the training of graduate students and a post doc at an EPSCoR institution. Research outcomes will be incorporated into classroom curriculum.