International Research Fellow Award: Dispersal and Recruitment in Streams of Australia: An Investigation of the Patchy Recruitment Hypothesis

国际研究员奖励计划使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行三到二十四个月的研究。该项目的奖项提供了联合研究的机会，并利用国外独特或互补的设施、专业知识和实验条件。该奖项将为Alicia S.Schultheis博士提供12个月的支持，以便与澳大利亚布里斯班格里菲斯大学的Jane Hughes博士合作。这项为期一年的研究将使用Schultheis博士开发的分子技术来确定成虫扩散和生活史差异如何影响澳大利亚溪流昆虫种群的遗传结构。他们将探讨1)成虫飞行是否作为一种有效的大规模扩散机制，跨越碎片化的成虫(陆地)栖息地？以及2)溪流昆虫幼虫种群间遗传差异的细微格局是否是溪流中有限的运动和片状产卵的结果？除了更好地了解遗传结构的影响外，它还将提供有价值的信息，说明周围森林的碎片化是否会通过扰乱成虫的传播来影响溪流昆虫种群。这项研究将提供一个框架，在其中开始研究世界各地河流的类似过程，包括北美的温带河流。休斯和她的同事产生了一组独特的关于溪流昆虫的扩散和遗传结构的数据，这是其他地方没有的。他们的数据为研究这些昆虫生活史的影响提供了唯一的系统。

0076202SchultheisThe International Research Fellow Awards Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.This award will provide Dr. Alicia S. Schultheis with support for twelve months to work with Dr. Jane Hughes at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia.This one-year study will use molecular techniques developed by Dr. Schultheis to determine how adult dispersal and differences in life history affect the genetic structuring of Australian stream insect populations. They will address whether 1) adult flight operates as an effective large-scale dispersal mechanism across areas of fragmented adult (terrestrial) habitat?, and 2) are fine-scale patterns of genetic differences among larval populations of stream insects the result of limited in-stream movement and patchy oviposition? Besides leading to a better understanding of the effects of genetic structuring, it will also provide valuable information about whether fragmentation of the surrounding forest affects stream insect populations by disrupting adult dispersal. The study will provide a framework in which to begin studying similar processes in streams throughout the world, including temperate streams of North America.Dr. Hughes and her colleagues have generated a unique set of data regarding dispersal and genetic structure of stream insects that is not available elsewhere. Their data provide the only system in which effects of life history of these insects can be studied.***