NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY2001

这一行动为NSF 2001财年的少数民族博士后研究奖学金提供了资金。该奖学金的目标是为少数族裔科学家在学术界和工业界担任科学领导职位做好准备。为了实现这一目标，该奖学金为最近的博士后获得者提供了高质量的博士后培训机会。这项计划是美国国家科学基金会的一项努力，目的是增加来自少数族裔群体的研究科学家的数量，从而为国家科学事业的未来活力做出贡献。预计通过这些奖学金培训的研究员将在未来劳动力的培训中发挥重要作用。该奖学金的研究和培训计划题为“热带雨林碎片中的蚂蚁-植物互惠共生被破坏吗？”副标题是“碎片大小和边缘接近程度对蚁群建立、生长和防御食草动物的影响”。这项研究调查了热带雨林的碎片化如何影响植物和保护植物免受食草动物侵害的蚂蚁。除了确定蚂蚁-植物互助体的群落是否减少为片断外，一个焦点蚂蚁-植物系统正在被用来实验研究三种可能的机制，通过这些机制可以改变森林片断中的蚂蚁-植物互惠关系。现场工作正在巴西进行。

This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY2001. The goal of the fellowship is to prepare minority scientists for positions of scientific leadership in academia and industry. To attain this goal, the fellowship provides opportunities for postdoctoral training of the highest quality to recent doctoral recipients. This program is an effort by the NSF to increase the number of research scientists from underrepresented minority groups, thereby contributing to the future vitality of the Nation's scientific enterprise. It is expected that Fellows trained through these fellowships will play important roles in training of the future workforce.The research and training plan for this fellowship is entitled "Are ant-plant mutualisms disrupted in rainforest fragments?" The subtitle is "Influence of fragment size and edge proximity on ant colony establishment, growth, and defense against herbivores." This research investigates how rain forest fragmentation impacts plants and the ants that defend them from herbivores. In addition to determining if the community of ant-plant mutualists is reduced in fragments, a focal ant-plant system is being used to experimentally investigate three potential mechanisms by which ant-plant mutualisms can be altered in forest fragments. The field work is being carried out in Brazil.