Data from: A quantitative genetic approach to assess the evolutionary potential of a coastal marine fish to ocean acidification

Assessing the potential of marine organisms to adapt genetically to increasing oceanic CO2 levels requires proxies such as heritability of fitness-related traits under ocean acidification (OA). We applied a quantitative genetic method to derive the first heritability estimate of survival under elevated CO2 conditions in a metazoan. Specifically, we reared offspring, selected from a wild coastal fish population (Atlantic silverside, Menidia menidia), at high CO2 conditions (~2,300 μatm) from fertilization to 15 days post hatch, which significantly reduced survival compared to controls. Perished and surviving offspring were quantitatively sampled and genotyped along with their parents, using 8 polymorphic microsatellite loci, to reconstruct a parent-offspring pedigree and estimate variance components. Genetically related individuals were phenotypically more similar (i.e., survived similarly long at elevated CO2 conditions) than unrelated individuals, which translated into a significantly non-zero heritability (0.20 ± 0.07). The contribution of maternal effects was surprisingly small (0.05 ± 0.04) and non-significant. Survival among replicates was positively correlated with genetic diversity, particularly with observed heterozygosity. We conclude that early life survival of M. menidia under high CO2 levels has a significant additive genetic component that could elicit an evolutionary response to OA, depending on the strength and direction of future selection.

评估海洋生物对升高的海洋二氧化碳水平产生遗传适应性的潜力，需要以海洋酸化（Ocean Acidification, OA）情境下与适合度相关性状的遗传力作为替代指标。本研究采用定量遗传学方法，获得了后生动物在高二氧化碳条件下存活率的首个遗传力估算值。具体而言，我们从野生沿海鱼类种群——大西洋银汉鱼（*Menidia menidia*）中选取亲本，将其后代置于高二氧化碳条件（约2300 μatm）下，从受精后饲养至孵化后15天；与对照组相比，该条件下的存活率显著降低。我们对死亡及存活的后代与其亲本进行定量采样和基因分型，共使用8个多态性微卫星位点，以此重建亲子代谱系并估算方差组分。遗传相关个体的表型（即在高二氧化碳条件下的存活时长）相较于无亲缘关系个体更为相似，这意味着遗传力显著非零（0.20 ± 0.07）。母性效应的贡献出乎意料地微弱（0.05 ± 0.04），且未达到统计学显著性。各重复组的存活率与遗传多样性呈正相关，其中与观测杂合度的相关性尤为显著。本研究结论表明，高二氧化碳条件下大西洋银汉鱼（*M. menidia*）的早期存活具有显著的加性遗传组分，其可对海洋酸化产生进化响应，具体效应取决于未来选择的强度与方向。