Munday Philip L
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, and College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University Townsville, QLD 4814 Australia.
F1000Prime Rep. 2014 Nov 4;6:99. doi: 10.12703/P6-99. eCollection 2014.
There is growing concern about the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on marine organisms and ecosystems, yet the potential for acclimation and adaptation to these threats is poorly understood. Whereas many short-term experiments report negative biological effects of ocean warming and acidification, new studies show that some marine species have the capacity to acclimate to warmer and more acidic environments across generations. Consequently, transgenerational plasticity may be a powerful mechanism by which populations of some species will be able to adjust to projected climate change. Here, I review recent advances in understanding transgenerational acclimation in fishes. Research over the past 2 to 3 years shows that transgenerational acclimation can partially or fully ameliorate negative effects of warming, acidification, and hypoxia in a range of different species. The molecular and cellular pathways underpinning transgenerational acclimation are currently unknown, but modern genetic methods provide the tools to explore these mechanisms. Despite the potential benefits of transgenerational acclimation, there could be limitations to the phenotypic traits that respond transgenerationally, and trade-offs between life stages, that need to be investigated. Future studies should also test the potential interactions between transgenerational plasticity and genetic evolution to determine how these two processes will shape adaptive responses to environmental change over coming decades.
气候变化和海洋酸化对海洋生物及生态系统的影响日益受到关注，然而人们对生物适应这些威胁的潜力却知之甚少。尽管许多短期实验报告了海洋变暖和酸化的负面生物效应，但新的研究表明，一些海洋物种有能力在多代间适应更温暖、酸性更强的环境。因此，跨代可塑性可能是某些物种种群能够适应预计气候变化的一种强大机制。在此，我回顾了鱼类跨代适应研究的最新进展。过去两到三年的研究表明，跨代适应能够部分或完全缓解一系列不同物种中变暖和酸化以及缺氧带来的负面影响。目前尚不清楚支撑跨代适应的分子和细胞途径，但现代遗传学方法提供了探索这些机制的工具。尽管跨代适应有潜在益处，但跨代响应的表型特征可能存在局限性，且不同生命阶段之间可能存在权衡，这些都有待研究。未来的研究还应测试跨代可塑性与基因进化之间的潜在相互作用，以确定这两个过程将如何在未来几十年塑造对环境变化的适应性反应。
