Meeting Abstract
Many species are shifting and expanding their geographic ranges under anthropogenic environmental change. These expanding species include native species which are taking advantage of warming climates to settle in previously inhospitable areas beyond their previous range margins, and invasive pest species which are rapidly colonizing novel industrial / agricultural landscapes. Many studies now show that as these colonizing species shift to new regions, they also adapt very rapidly to novel climate and resource conditions encountered there. Such rapid adaptation presents somewhat of an evolutionary paradox, as genetic variation is often depleted during colonization events. In this talk I will present recent work done by my group on how epigenetic mechanisms contribute to rapid life history transitions, resource use shifts, and rapid thermal adaptations within two insect study systems, the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus (an expanding global pest on stored legumes), and the damselfly Ischnura elegans (which is rapidly expanding northward its native range in Europe under warming climates). The presented studies explore the role of DNA methylation in rapid adaptation to novel niches, but also highlight a central role of epigenetic mechanisms in shaping life history syndromes. The results are discussed in light of wider concepts of niche conservatism and life history theory.
