Data to support: Moving beyond heritability in the search for coral adaptive potential

Global environmental change is happening at unprecedented rates. Coral reefs are among the ecosystems most threatened by global change. For wild populations to persist, they must adapt. Knowledge shortfalls about corals’ complex ecological and evolutionary dynamics, however, stymie predictions about potential adaptation to future conditions. Here, we review adaptation through the lens of quantitative genetics. We argue that coral adaptation studies can benefit greatly from “wild” quantitative genetic methods, where traits are studied in wild populations undergoing natural selection, genomic relationship matrices can replace breeding experiments, and analyses can be extended to examine genetic constraints among traits. Individuals with advantageous genotypes for anticipated future conditions can be identified. Finally, genomic genotyping supports simultaneous consideration of how genetic diversity is arrayed across geographic and environmental distances, providing greater context for pre..., Data is processed by simulation modelling., Files can be accessed using SLiM and R.

全球环境变化正以史无前例的速率发生。珊瑚礁是受全球变化威胁最严重的生态系统之一。野生种群要得以存续，必须发生适应性演化。然而，我们对于珊瑚复杂的生态与演化动态存在认知缺口，这阻碍了对其未来潜在适应性的预测。本研究从数量遗传学（quantitative genetics）的视角综述了适应性演化相关研究。我们认为，珊瑚适应性研究可从‘野生’数量遗传学方法中获益良多：这类方法指在经受自然选择的野生种群中研究性状，可用基因组亲缘关系矩阵（genomic relationship matrices）替代育种实验，且分析可拓展至探究性状间的遗传约束。可识别出携带适配未来预期环境的优势基因型的个体。最后，基因组基因分型（genomic genotyping）可支持同时分析遗传多样性在地理与环境梯度上的分布格局，为预……提供更充足的背景信息。数据集通过模拟建模进行处理。相关文件可通过SLiM与R获取。