NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2013

授予欧阳珍妮博士的博士后研究奖学金得到了美国国家科学基金会生物科学理事会和国际科学与工程办公室的支持。在为期24个月的奖学金期间，欧阳博士将在荷兰瓦赫宁根的荷兰生态研究所（NIOO-KNAW）的Marcel Visser教授的赞助下从事一个名为“夜晚的丧失：人工照明下生活的生理成本”的项目。该奖项为美国科学家提供了与外国科学家合作的独特机会，并利用国外独特的设施，专业知识和实验条件。数百万年来，动物和植物在自然的每日光/暗周期下进化。这些周期已经被扰乱，因为在地球的大部分地区，特别是在工业化和人口稠密的地区，夜间黑暗越来越多地被人工照明所取代。夜间照明不仅仅影响城市，因为非自然光可以很好地延伸到周围的森林和自然水道中。人工照明对群落生态、种群数量、个体行为和健康的巨大影响才刚刚开始被探索。然而，自由生活的生物体的潜在生理变化的范围和程度仍然不清楚。该项目将利用现有的，世界范围内独特的网络现场，在夜间人工照明的红色，绿色，和白色光测试夜间照明对个人的压力生理学，免疫学，生殖输出的影响，并使用一个良好的研究欧洲鸣禽，大山雀（山雀）随后的生存。将跟踪照明和黑暗对照视野部位之间的个体活动模式差异，然后测试应激水平和免疫功能的处理差异，最后监测适应性。现场研究将与实验室研究相结合，该研究将在光治疗之前，期间和之后追踪个体的内分泌和免疫功能，以充分测试夜间光线对个体生理的影响。减少夜间黑暗的影响可能会减轻修改光谱的照明，因此，这项研究的结果对城市规划和生态系统功能的影响。最终，这些发现对于实施计划以应对与自然光周期干扰相关的大规模生态破坏至关重要。该项目将推进我们目前对昼夜节律的机械调节的理解，测试自然区域中光的环保应用，并为全球范围内的管理实践提供具体证据。在一个日益经历“黑夜消失”的世界里，获取信息变得至关重要。"

This Postdoctoral Research Fellowship award to Dr. Jenny Ouyang is supported by both the Directorate for Biological Sciences and the Office of International Science and Engineering at the National Science Foundation. During the 24-month fellowship, Dr. Ouyang will work on a project titled, "Loss of night: physiological costs of living under artificial lighting" under the sponsorship of Professor Marcel Visser at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) in Wageningen, the Netherlands. This award provides a unique opportunity for a US scientist to collaborate with foreign scientists, and utilize the unique facilities, expertise and experimental conditions available abroad. Animals and plants have evolved under a natural, daily light/dark cycle for millions of years. These cycles have been disturbed as nighttime darkness is increasingly replaced by artificial illumination on a large part of the planet, especially in industrialized and densely populated areas. Nocturnal illumination does not simply affect cities, as unnatural light stretches well into surrounding forests and natural waterways. The dramatic effects of artificial lighting on community ecology, population numbers, and individual behavior and fitness are just beginning to be explored. However, the range and degree of potential physiological change in free-living organisms remain unclear. The project will make use of an existing, worldwide unique network of field sites that are artificially illuminated at night with red, green, and white light to test the effects of nocturnal lighting on individual stress physiology, immunology, reproductive output, and subsequent survival using a well-studied European songbird, the great tit (Parus major). Differences in individual activity patterns between the illuminated and the dark control field sites will be tracked, then tested for treatment differences in stress levels and immune function, and finally monitored for fitness. The field study will be integrated with a laboratory study that will trace an individual's endocrine and immunological function before, during, and after light treatments to fully test the effects of nighttime light on individual physiology. The effects of decreased nighttime darkness may be alleviated by a modified spectrum of lighting; therefore, the results of this study have implications for urban planning and ecosystem function. Ultimately, the findings will be crucial to implementing plans to combat large-scale ecological disruptions associated with disturbances to the natural light cycle. This project will advance our current understanding of the mechanistic regulation of circadian rhythms, test an environmentally friendly application of light in natural areas, and provide concrete evidence for management practices at a global scale. The information acquired is becoming essential in a world that is increasingly experiencing a "loss of night."