Project Details
Projekt
Population genetic impacts of a changing ambient conditions on marcro-in-vertebrates with different life history strategies in running waters
Applicant
Professor Dr. Alfred Seitz (†)
Subject Area
Hydrogeology, Hydrology, Limnology, Urban Water Management, Water Chemistry, Integrated Water Resources Management
Term
from 2004 to 2008
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5430073
It is expected that in the course of global warming the present flow regimes of rivers will change and that extreme situations such as floods and low water will increase in frequency and intensity. We study the population genetic effect of these changes by comparing rivers of different flow regimes - Rhine and Danube (snowmelt) versus Moselle and Main (groundwater) - and three species with different life histories (high/low dispersion and high/low drought resistance). We will use markers on the level of enzymes and DNA. A shift of genotypes due to higher water temperatures and a decrease of genetic variability is expected. The former reflects the microevolutionary response and enables the survival under changing environmental conditions. The latter is caused by repeated bottle necks triggered by extreme fluctuations of local and regional population sizes accompanying floods and droughts. It limits this response and may reduce the survival of populations within their present distribution limits. This study will allow the assessment of these two processes. The sources of immigration and recolonisation ways after local extinctions will be studied by molecular markers. The role of reservoirs and barrages as refuges resp. impediment of dispersal will be analysed. Genotypes that dominate under certain temperature or flow regime will be provided for physiological studies and proteomic analyses to the co-operating working groups. Results on the amount and distance of gene flow (dispersal) as well as population densities observed in field will be input to the modelling project.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
