NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2009

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This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2009 and is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). 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 Lisa C. Nelis is "Interactions among invasive non-native plants and insects in California grasslands." The host institution for this research is the Stanford University under the sponsorship of Dr. Deborah Gordon.Argentine ant invasions and grassland plant invasions are known individually to impact native species negatively, yet like most other ecological systems, there has been no research on how these spatially overlapping invasions interact. If interactions between these invaders result in facilitation, the negative consequences to the native species may be strong. This project is combining field and laboratory research with modeling to determine what interactions are taking place between Argentine ants and exotic grassland plants in California, determine how those interactions affect the community of plants and insects, and predict the long-term effect of Argentine ant and exotic plant exclusion on plant and insect communities. The invasion dynamics are also being compared between populations of the same plant species in California to those collected in Chile.Training objectives include expanding experimental and modeling experience and new opportunities for collaborations and publications. Additionally, the project is seeking to understand the complex and scientifically interesting interactions among invasive Argentine ants and plants, provide information useful in conservation, and integrate education and outreach for underrepresented groups in research. The results are being provided to managers of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (fieldwork site), and the Fellow is a mentor in the Ecological Society of America SEEDS outreach program and an outreach program to include minority high school students in basic research.