Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Pennsylvania
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

The implications of climate change for Earth’s biota and agricultural systems remains uncertain. We will address this uncertainty by characterizing connections between an organism’s genotype, phenotype, and environmentally determined fitness in the context of a changing climate. Specifically, this approach connects landscape-level variables to gene expression patterns (transcriptomes). Working with state fisheries agencies, the US Geological Survey, and the US Fish & Wildlife Service, we will use a combination of landscape transcriptomics and experimental manipulations to identify markers of stress reactivity and resilience to warming streams, a key risk to brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis population persistence. This information will help guide the conservation and management of this iconic species.