Biology Seminar Series- Dr. Bryan Clark, US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development

When Evolution is the Solution to Pollution: Repeated adaptation of mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) populations to extreme pollution.

In most cases, evolutionary adaptation is not expected to occur fast enough for species to cope with the rapid onset of many human-mediated environmental changes, such as industrial pollution. However, multiple independent populations of an estuarine minnow, the mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus), have developed a remarkable tolerance to highly toxic chemicals, which allows them to survive and thrive in some of the most contaminated estuaries on the US Atlantic coast. In this seminar, I will discuss how our work, and that of others, has demonstrated the effects of living in these highly polluted estuaries, some of the genetic underpinnings of evolutionary rescue from pollution, and its potential costs and consequences. Despite the widespread occurrence of anthropogenic stressors as potential drivers of evolutionary change, this type of contemporary evolution in vertebrates is uncommon. Study of these populations has allowed us to identify some of the attributes enabling successful adaptation, but also why this may rarely be a successful solution to pollution.

Lite refreshments.