Our group has recently started a project granted by the Hong Kong Research Grant Council together with JD Gaitán-Espitia to investigate patterns of local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity in the high shore species Isognomon nucleus and Echinolittorina malaccana, across a latitudinal gradient from Okinawa to Singapore. To do this we will be quantifying their thermal performances and metabolic patterns when acclimated to contrasting thermal regimes, and determine whether plasticity in metabolic depression contributes to species persistence in the challenging and extreme tropical high shore environments. We are very excited to start this project as it links us with our colleagues Karen Villarta (University of the Visayas, Philippines); Jaime Reimer (University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa); Peter Todd (National University of Singapore) and Monthon Ganmanee (KMITL, Thailand).
Experimental design to investigate local adaptation vs phenotypic plasticity