NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2009

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This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2009. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Gabriel Rivera is "The evolution of morphological divergence in semi-aquatic freshwater turtles inhabiting slow and fast-flowing aquatic habitats." This research is being conducted at Iowa State University under the sponsorship of Dr. Dean Adams.Species that inhabit a wide range of environments frequently display divergent morphologies that correlate with differences in specific ecological parameters. The velocity of water flow has been shown to influence morphology in a broad range of aquatic organisms. While the evolutionary processes that have produced these patterns have been examined for several species of fully aquatic organisms (e.g., fishes), how evolution produces these patterns in semi-aquatic vertebrates remains largely unexamined. The use of terrestrial and aquatic habitats makes freshwater turtles an excellent system for addressing such questions. The North American freshwater turtle Pseudemys concinna is composed of two distinct geographic lineages; those inhabiting Atlantic drainages and those inhabiting Gulf drainages. Turtles in both lineages inhabit a wide range of slow and fast-flowing environments, and differences in morphology that correlate with different flow velocities have been identified in the one lineage (Gulf) studied to date. This project is determining (1) the contribution of genetic and environmental factors in producing the morphological differences observed between slow and fast-flowing environments, and (2) whether differences in water flow produce the same morphological differences in both geographic lineages. This research provides additional understanding of how morphological diversity can result from evolutionary adaptations to different environments. Training plans include developing new skills by combining analytical procedures for examining patterns of morphological variation, mathematical techniques for quantifying organismal shape, and statistical methods. Additionally, this project provides laboratory and field research opportunities for undergraduates and increases the participation of underrepresented groups in science.