GenREACT

Context

Climate change is altering environmental conditions in marine ecosystems and may affect the distribution, abundance and productivity of fish populations, with consequences for both their availability and fishing activity. In response to these changes, species may shift towards areas with more favourable conditions, adapt through genetic and epigenetic mechanisms or, where their capacity to respond is insufficient, experience population declines.

Sustainable fisheries management requires anticipating how fishery resources will respond both to different management measures and to long-term environmental pressures. However, projections of climate change impacts do not always account for the genetic capacity of species to adapt to new environmental conditions.

GenREACT is based on the hypothesis that integrating genomic and epigenomic adaptation potential with projected changes in environmental conditions will provide more accurate estimates of the resilience and vulnerability of marine species to climate change.

The project will apply this approach to five commercially important marine fish species in order to generate knowledge and tools that support the integration of climate change adaptation into the long-term assessment, conservation and management of fishery resources.

Objectives

GenREACT aims to develop a framework for integrating the resilience and vulnerability of marine species to climate change into fisheries assessment and management.

To achieve this, the project addresses three main objectives:

• Assess the genomic and epigenomic vulnerability of five commercially important marine fish species to future climate conditions and identify the main genetic and epigenetic mechanisms associated with their adaptation and response to environmental variability.
• Predict potential future changes in the abundance and distribution of these species by integrating genomic and epigenomic vulnerability with projected changes in habitat suitability.
• Facilitate the incorporation of species’ climate vulnerability into long-term fisheries management plans through engagement with end users.

Among other aspects, the project will analyse genomic offset, understood as the difference between current genomic diversity and that which would be required under future environmental conditions, as well as changes in habitat suitability using species distribution models.

Expected results and impact

GenREACT will develop a methodological framework for integrating estimates of climate resilience and vulnerability into the assessment of fishery species, combining information on potential future genetic maladaptation with projected changes in habitat suitability.

This information will be integrated into a species resilience index that will make it possible to:

• Estimate potential mismatches between a species’ capacity to shift its distribution or adapt and the rate at which its environment is changing.
• Identify species that may be particularly vulnerable to climate change.
• Identify areas with the greatest adaptation potential.
• Detect areas where projected impacts may be greatest.

From a scientific perspective, the project will help identify the main environmental factors driving genetic adaptation in marine fish and improve understanding of the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms involved in their resilience or vulnerability.

GenREACT will also develop tools based on genomic and epigenomic information to enhance the predictive capacity of climate change impact studies, together with guidance on incorporating these data into fisheries assessments.

The methodology developed will help anticipate the effects of climate change on marine resources and provide a more comprehensive scientific basis for designing future management and conservation measures.

The project will also generate a substantial volume of open-access genomic data, which will be deposited in public repositories to facilitate reuse by the scientific community and support further research and developments in this field.

Funding