U.S.-Kenya Planning Visit: Ecological Studies in the Maasai Mara National Reserve and Kenyan Training Workshop on Eumycetozoans

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This award will support a planning visit for PI Adam Rollins (Lincoln Memorial University) and co-PI Steven Stephenson (University of Arkansas) to visit three locations in Kenya: the Center for Biodiversity housed at the National Museums of Kenya, the University of Nairobi, and the Maasai Mara National Reserve. The main objective of the proposed trip is for the PI (accompanied by a Lincoln Memorial University undergraduate student) and Co-PI to meet with Dr. George Ndiritu of the National Museums of Kenya and Dr. Francis Mwaura of the University of Nairobi. During the visit, the PI's and the foreign partners will (1) develop plans for future collaborative research centered around the eumycetozoans associated with grasslands and other ecosystems in eastern Africa, (2) begin the process of developing one or more international grant proposals to support the proposed collaborative efforts, (3) collect a preliminary set of samples to generate a set of baseline data, (4) present a workshop and one or more seminars on eumycetozoans to Kenyan university students and museum professionals at the National Museums of Kenya and the University of Nairobi.Intellectual merit: Relatively little is known about the ecology of microbial communities associated with grassland ecosystems. This is especially true for the eumycetozoans (e.g., myxomycetes and dictyostelids). Only one comprehensive widespread study documenting dictyostelid cellular slime molds has been published relating specifically to this ecosystem (Rollins et al. 2010). Furthermore, there is not a single published paper specifically documenting the occurrence of myxomycetes associated with grassland ecosystems. The PI and Co-PI have a substantial data set documenting the occurrence of myxomycetes in the grasslands of the west-central United States (Rollins and Stephenson, manuscript in preparation), as well as smaller data sets from grassland sites in Belize, Costa Rica, and Australia (unpublished data). In general, very little is known with respect to the eumycetozoans associated with various ecosystems across the continent of Africa. This project would generate a set of preliminary data that would begin to address this void and could ultimately be used to address questions related to the ecological associations and biogeographical patterns associated with eumycetozoans across the continent of Africa and globally.Broader impact: The planning visit seeks to establish a productive program of collaborative research between two US universities (Lincoln Memorial University in TN and the University of Arkansas in AR) and two Kenyan institutions (the National Museums of Kenya and the University of Nairobi). It is expected that this collaborative effort will produce an international research component that will ultimately benefit both undergraduate and graduate students within the United States and in Kenya. If funded, this planning visit would specifically benefit an undergraduate student from Lincoln Memorial University by providing the student with international experience in presenting information about their research experiences to Kenyan students and scientists as part of the training workshop component. Collectively, the experiences of the proposed trip would greatly benefit the student by exposing him/her to an international collaborative research effort, in turn strengthening the student?s concepts related to scientific methodologies, critical thinking skills, and cultural diversity.