Chris Funk
Colorado State University-Fort Collins, CO·Ecology & Evolution
Which species will survive a warming climate? The answer depends on more than heat tolerance.
- Fields
Ecology & Evolution
Biology
Earth & Environmental Science
- Topics
climate change
adaptive capacity
thermal tolerance
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Nov 2027
What they work on
- Test whether cutthroat trout predators are more sensitive to rising water temperatures than their tailed frog tadpole prey, combining stream environment measurements, genomics and physiology experiments to measure heat adaptation.
- Compare dispersal, evolutionary potential and acclimation ability between trout and tailed frogs, using genomics to measure movement across the landscape and genetic potential, and physiology experiments to measure acclimation.
- Determine how temperature and stream flow change predator-prey interactions by measuring trout diets and tadpole energy content, then use a food web model to predict climate-driven shifts in energy flow.
- Predict spatial patterns of heat vulnerability in both species with an individual-based eco-evolutionary model that combines species interactions, variation among individuals, and adaptive capacity.
More about the research
A species' evolutionary history shapes how sensitive it is, and its survival is tied to the species it eats or is eaten by. A predator that tolerates warmer water may still decline if its prey disappears. This collaborative project combines evolution, physiology and food web ecology to predict how pairs of interacting species respond to climate change.
Why it matters
Cutthroat trout and tailed frogs are cold-water species of conservation concern in Pacific Northwest streams. Predicting where and why they are most vulnerable to warming could help federal and state wildlife agencies set priorities for stream protection. A planned web-based tool would let managers assess environmental vulnerability directly. The approach could also improve forecasts for other interacting species.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Matthew Troia
University of Texas at San Antonio, TX·Ecology & Evolution·Early-career
Measure acute cold and heat tolerance, acclimation potential, and energy budgets in three tropical and three related temperate freshwater fishes. Use these lab experiments to test whether tropical and temperate species differ in thermal physiology.
Justin Pomeranz
Colorado Mesa University, CO·Ecology & Evolution
Describe how body-size distributions, measured by the power-law exponent λ, vary across U.S. streams and rivers sampled by the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON).
Olaf Jensen
University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI·Ecology & Evolution
Test whether fish in Lake Hovsgol and the Eg River use behavioral thermoregulation, moving to cooler microhabitats, to cope with warming, using electronic tags and temperature-logging sensors.
The school
Colorado State University-Fort Collins: 23 labs on PI Pages, $466M a year on research, 276 research doctorates a year.
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