Genomic Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change (GenARCC)

Overview

Globally, climate change continues to result in severe environmental disturbances, with recent years being the warmest on record during the industrialized period. Within Canada, the climate continues to warm at more than double the global rate, with northern Canada expected to experience the most extreme changes. There is a growing need for science advice on how key species might respond to climate change, and related economic and societal implications. Genomics offers a very powerful set of tools that can help with this.

Transcript

Dr. Ian Bradbury
Research Scientist
Fisheries and Oceans Canada

 “Climate change is severely impacting ecosystems at a global scale. In Canada, warming is about twice the global average. This is impacting everything from agricultural production to fisheries, forestry to the transmission of disease and pathogens.”

Joey Angnatok
Commercial Fisherman
Putjotik Fisheries Ltd.

“People have noticed a decrease in the numbers of char. It's very important for food source in both summer and winter. Also, it gives people the reason to get out on the land and, I guess, be who they are.”

Carl Plante
Citizen

“I am concerned by the impact of climate change on forest environments. The way I see it, we’re going to see forest stands being degraded over decades.”

Rick Bennett
Breeding Lead, Carinata
Nuseed Canada

“We believe that breeding for climate resilient crops is important in today's world. We see a lot more extreme weather patterns.”

Dr. Ian Bradbury

“Genomics is a study of an organism's complete set of DNA, including all its genes. In April of 2022, the Government of Canada Genomics Research and Development Initiative launched the Genomic Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change Project. GenARCC enables scientists in different departments to reach out to one another, combine their expertise and address issues that extend beyond the mandates of single departments. GenARCC researchers are using genomic tools to answer the following questions. How are species and populations in Canada adapted to their environment? What is the rate of change? And how will these species and populations respond to future climate change? GenARCC’s activities are organized into three ecosystem based work packages.

For the Forest and Tundra work package, questions include: how to invest funds to conserve and protect wildlife such as caribou, where to plant trees and which trees to plant considering drought, heat tolerance and pest resistance.”

Dr. Nathalie Isabel
Research Scientist
Natural Resources Canada

“Forest genomics gives us a high level of agility. In the GenARCC project, genetic diversity in forests is being studied, and experiments are being conducted under controlled conditions. The goal is to paint a picture of diversity or vulnerability hotspots in Canada. What is also interesting is that we’ll be able to layer information on different trophic levels. That means information not just on trees but also the microbiome, including all soil micro-organisms and those associated with trees, that is, symbiotic micro-organisms or fungi.”

Dr. Ian Bradbury

“For the agro ecosystems work package, we're asking questions such as: which plants support declining pollinator populations, which crops to plant for drought and heat resistance, or tolerance and disease management in bison populations.”

Dr. Christina Eynck
Research Scientist
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

“The most important Brassica oilseed on the Canadian prairies is canola and our part of the GenARCC project is to assess the adaptive capacity to drought and Brassica oilseed species and to develop tools that will help to more efficiently develop drought tolerant cultivars.”

Dr. Ian Bradbury

“In the aquatic and coastal work package, we're looking at: which species are safe to eat or require new health screening, where to invest funds to conserve and protect wildlife populations such as polar bear, seabirds and salmonids, and identifying which fisheries may be poised to grow or to collapse in response to climate change.

At present, very little is known regarding stock structure of Arctic char in coastal Labrador, and a large part of this project is building a genetic baseline or a map of genetic variation in Arctic char in the region. Understanding and conserving genetic variation among populations within a species is important because it allows the species and populations to adapt to changing environments and to other stresses.

GenARCC relies heavily on strong linkages with end users, including Indigenous groups from across Canada. These linkages provide access to different types of knowledge, critical baseline information and access to samples. The integration of end users directly into the project ensures that those most heavily impacted by climate change have immediate access to the results and the science advice coming out of the project.

In many ways, this is a new way of doing research, addressing issues of importance to Canadians. The ability to predict climate change impacts across Canadian wild and agricultural environments is key to successful mitigation and adaptation of climate change impacts.”

GRDI.CANADA.CA

GenARC

In April 2022 the Government of Canada Genomics Research and Development Initiative launched Genomic Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change (GenARCC). Using genomic tools, GenARCC aims to inform climate change adaptation, to help protect Canada’s biodiversity, ecosystem resiliency, food security, and health. The GenARCC team will use their expertise to address the following questions:

  1. How are critical species and populations adapted to their environment?
  2. Is this relationship changing in response to climate change?
  3. How will these critical species and populations respond in the coming years?

What is genomics?

Every living being has a genome: the complete set of genetic information (deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA*) that provides instructions for its development and functioning. Using genomic tools, scientists can assess a population’s ability to adapt to their changing environment and predict whether it will be vulnerable to climate change.

In viruses, this genetic information can be stored as DNA or RNA (ribonucleic acid).

What is adaptation?

When faced with a rapidly changing environment, living things may respond through:

  • Relocation: Moving to a different habitat where they are better suited to the environment
  • Phenotypic Plasticity: Physical, behavioural, or developmental changes at the individual level
  • Adaptation: Long-term, heritable genetic changes at the population or species level
  • Extirpation: The population may not be able to survive and disappear

In this context, adaptation is an evolutionary change that makes an organism function better in a certain environment, improving their ability to survive and successfully reproduce. This is different from climate change adaptation, which occurs when we adjust our decisions, behaviours and activities to account for existing or expected changes in climate.

Research work packages

Forest and tundra

Forests and tundra are essential spaces for people in Canada, providing ecosystem services including social and cultural benefits, and economic value.

Impacts of climate change include:

  • Higher risk of drought and forest fires
  • Increased susceptibility to existing and novel pests and pathogens
  • Changes to ecosystem services provided by forests

Research activities

Boreal forest

Assessing the capacity of boreal tree species, their microbiomes and their pests to adapt to climate change to inform climate-resilient forest management activities, including assisted migration and reforestation.

Agroecosystems

Investigating the role of microbes in maintaining tree ecological services and how these will be affected by climate change and forestry.

Mining-impacted ecosystems

Investigating the effects of mining and climate change on surrounding ecosystems to improve the efficiency and viability of remediation and restoration of mine-impacted sites in the face of climate change.

Caribou

Assessing the genomic vulnerability of caribou, including identifying emerging pathogens, to predict whether populations have the capacity to adapt to climate change.

Microbiomes

Microbiomes are communities of microorganisms, including fungi, bacteria, and viruses. Microbes can be both beneficial and harmful to their host and play a key role in the functioning of organisms and ecosystems. For example, microbes associated with tree roots play an important role in nutrient absorption.

Agroecosystems

Across Canada, over 60 million hectares of land is used for primary agriculture, contributing to our economy, providing essential resources, and ensuring food security.

Impacts of climate change include:

  • Physiological stress due to higher temperatures
  • Increased invasive insect pests, weeds and pathogens
  • Declining populations of beneficial insects, such as pollinators
  • Potential for new agricultural opportunities

Research activities

Insects

Investigating the genetic diversity of insects, identifying species that have undergone significant declines, and exploring the effects of land use and climate change on populations. Using insect specimens from the Canadian National Collection, as well as present-day samples, will allow us to examine genomic changes associated with climate change over time. Newly collected specimens will be maintained as a baseline for insect genetic diversity.

Crop land

Investigating the genomic vulnerability and adaptive potential of oilseed and legume crops to changing environmental conditions and stressors, such as heat and drought, and the role that microbiomes play in their capacity to adapt.

Developing novel sensing techniques for in-field analyses to provide real-time characterization of plant nutrients and traits.

Bison

Developing genomic tools to assess the genetic composition of bison sub-species, and examining the effect of climate changes, environmental contaminants, and pathogens on the health of bison and their microbiomes. Climate change is influencing disease dynamics in wildlife as the ranges of both hosts and pathogens shift. We are characterizing pathogens that infect bison, assessing their prevalence, and developing new genomic tools to provide better disease surveillance.

Aquatic and coastal ecosystems

With the longest coastline of any country and over two million lakes and rivers, aquatic and coastal ecosystems are central to Canada’s biodiversity, economy, and cultural identity.

Impacts of climate change include:

  • Physiological stress due to higher temperatures
  • Competitive interactions and the spread of pathogens
  • Altered food webs due to changes in species diversity and abundance

Research activities

Arctic and subarctic

Assessing the genomic vulnerability of Northern and northwards-moving wildlife species to climate change, including factors that influence the disease dynamics of existing and emerging pathogens, with a focus on species harvested by Indigenous communities. Pathogens threaten wildlife populations, as well as the health, food security and cultural well-being of Northern Indigenous communities.

Eastern freshwater rivers

Studying interactions within a salmonid food chain in rivers with different thermal regimes to predict the effects of climate change on freshwater ecosystems. All species in an ecosystem are interconnected via the food web. A change in the abundance or diversity of species can have cascading effects, threatening the stability and productivity of the entire ecosystem.

Outcomes

Funded participants

Project partners

GenARCC is a collaborative 5-year project funded by the Government of Canada. Through partnerships with Indigenous communities, academic institutions, provincial and territorial governments, and industry, GenARCC aims to use genomic tools to inform climate change adaptation and promote resiliency.

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