Colorado State University is leading a new interdisciplinary research project into the ways predators and prey in sensitive ecosystems may react to climate change based on their physiology, genetics and relationships to each other.
Colorado State University is leading a new interdisciplinary research project into the ways predators and prey in sensitive ecosystems may react to climate change based on their physiology, genetics and relationships to each other.
Led by Professor Chris Funk in the Department of Biology, the project is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Organismal Response to Climate Change program and will focus on interactions between cutthroat trout and tailed frogs in Pacific Northwest streams. This approach is one of the first times researchers have tried to test both the effects of evolution and species interactions to better understand species and ecosystem resilience and vulnerability to climate change.
The CSU team will work on the $1.7 million project with partners over the next four years in the field and lab. Funk said a key goal is to understand how relationships between different species, the coastal versus interior regional climatic variation, and elevation may shape responses to increasing water temperatures due to climate change.
Read More: Colorado State University
Photo Credit: Brenna Forester and Colorado State University
