Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics FY2006

项目名称：“爬行动物、鸟类和哺乳动物的后代性别配给：环境可预测性的重要性”该项目是根据2006年生物信息学博士后研究奖学金授予的。PI将使用建模和经验方法来检查羊膜脊椎动物(爬行动物、鸟类和哺乳动物)后代性别比例的偏差是否受到竞争对手的可预测性的影响。这些模型将揭示不可预测性如何影响性别比偏差和子女状况之间的关系。从长期来看，使用温度相关性别决定(TSD)的海龟物种的焦点数据以及具有TSD的非海洋爬行动物的大陆规模的比较数据将被分析，以验证模型预测。该项目的结果将使人们更好地了解羊水中后代性别比的发生和性质，包括TSD的生态和进化动态。该项目还将预测人口性别比例对气候变化的反应，并指出如果进化反应不够迅速，人口何时会灭绝。PI将在爱荷华州立大学Frederic Janzen的实验室工作，在那里她将在1)分析和模拟建模，2)计算机编程，3)分析长期数据集和综合异质的公开数据的统计方法，以及4)指导所有级别的学生方面发展新技能。在拟议的研究过程中，她将通过以下方式成为研究型大学教师职位的竞争对手：1)进行结合了强大信息学方法的富有想象力的综合研究；2)开发广阔的生物学视角和大型科学“工具包”；3)促进国内和国际合作；以及4)获得指导学生和向公众传播生物学的经验。

Project Title: "Offspring Sex Rations in Reptiles, Birds, AND Mammals: The Importance Of Environmental Predictability" This project is awarded under the Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biological Informatics Program for 2006. The PI will use modeling and empirical approaches to examine whether biases in offspring sex ratios of amniote vertebrates (reptiles, birds, and mammals) are shaped by the predictability of their competitors. The models will reveal how unpredictability affects the relationship between sex ratio biases and offspring condition. Long-term, focal data from a species of turtle with temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) and comparative, continental-scale data from non-marine reptiles with TSD will be analyzed to test the model predictions. The results of this project will provide a greater understanding of the occurrence and nature of offspring sex ratios in amniotes, including the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of TSD. The project will also predict responses of population sex ratios to climate change, and indicate when populations will go extinct if the evolutionary response is insufficiently rapid. The PI will be working in the lab of Frederic Janzen at Iowa State University where she will develop new skills in 1) analytical and simulation modeling, 2) computer programming, 3) statistical methods to analyze long-term data sets and to synthesize heterogenous, publicly-available data, and 4) mentoring of students at all levels. During the course of the proposed research she will become competitive for a faculty position at a research university by 1) conducting imaginative and synthetic research that incorporates powerful informatics approaches, 2) developing a broad biological perspective and a large scientific "tool-kit", 3) fostering national and international collaborations, and 4) gaining experience mentoring students and disseminating biology to the public.