Genomic and eco-physiological mechanisms of hypoxia resistance in mountain hummingbirds

About This Grant

High-elevation environments are defined by thin air and biting cold that demand exceptional physiological resilience. Understanding how organisms acclimatize and adapt to these challenges is key to uncovering how they will respond to future environmental conditions. This study will examine how different populations of two species of mountain hummingbirds vary in their genetic, behavioral, and physiological responses to temperature and oxygen scarcity. The researchers will use integrative approaches in the field and the lab to study populations distributed across a range of latitudes and elevations, some of which reside in these locations year-round, and some of which migrate up and down mountains seasonally. Results will provide new insight into current and future population resilience. This project will provide hands-on training for early-career scientists, outreach opportunities, and new skill-building workshops. It will additionally foster international museum collaborations, grow museum collections, and build natural history infrastructure. Together, the interwoven scientific and social impacts of this project will contribute to workforce development, connecting science and society through education and outreach. This project addresses long-standing questions in ecology, evolution, and physiology: How does exposure to environmental challenges shape molecular and physiological response mechanisms, and how can we predict future response capacity? This research will further our understanding of how thermal and hypoxic stress shape genomic architecture, impact physiology, and ultimately, affect organismal performance and persistence in mountain environments. The project will provide empirical tests of theory, integrative study of cause-and-effect-relationships, and predictive forecasting in a comparative organismal framework. It breaks new ground by creatively integrating: 1) field experiments with wild hummingbirds to test functional performance; 2) large-scale analyses of population genomic adaptation; and 3) new predictive models. Collectively, this project provides a multi-scale framework for linking mechanism to performance that will advance how we study adaptive responses under environmental extremes. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.