Grant: Canada Research Chairs

The human footprint on our planet is increasing at an unprecedented rate and several wild populations are affected by human-driven environmental changes such as climate changes, habitat destruction and overharvest. The long-term goal of the CRC on Human impacts on wildlife is to evaluate how human activities affect natural selection in the wild and to measure the consequences of these novel selective pressures on the ecology and evolution of wild animals. Several studies have documented phenotypic response to current unprecedented fast rates of anthropogenic environmental changes. Phenotypic differences between individuals can affect their fitness and mean vital rates and it has recently been shown that changes in trait distribution can affect population growth rate. Although population dynamics have interested demographers and ecologists for at least two centuries, very few quantitative empirical examples illustrating the importance of genetically based phenotypic effects on population growth are available. We thus know little about the relative contribution of ecological and evolutionary processes (i.e., change in the mean population phenotype over time) to population dynamics, despite their fundamental importance for conservation, natural resource management and evolutionary demography. Over the next seven years, building upon our previous findings and internationally recognized expertise, research in my group will focus on three axes to understand, estimate and forecast the human impact on wildlife and will expand along three key interconnected axes: 1) evaluate whether animals can adapt to human-driven climate and other environmental changes, 2) quantify the effect of human-driven trait changes on the vital rates that drive population dynamics and 3) apply new predictive eco-evolutionary framework to forecast the consequences of human activities on animal wild populations. To achieve these objectives, my research team will exploit exceptionally detailed data from long-term longitudinal studies (19-50 years) of vertebrates (brown bears, bighorn sheep, tree swallows, harbour seals). My program will provide major advances to forecast the consequences of both genetic and phenotypic trait changes on population dynamics. Through these advances, I will prepare numerous highly qualified personnel for relevant positions in biological conservation, resource management, and academia.