NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2013

一项大规模的实验测试栖息地碎片化如何影响营养结构、物种生态位和灭绝风险种群和群落的基本属性受到栖息地丧失和碎片化的影响--栖息地丧失和碎片化是对许多生态系统的普遍威胁。由于景观变化的影响是复杂和相互交织的，景观生态学的一个中心目标是梳理种群和群落因生境斑块变化而发生变化的机制。操纵性实验为实现这一目标提供了一种手段。这位研究员将在澳大利亚的Wog Wog栖息地碎片化实验中评估碎片化对不同甲虫群落的影响。具体地说，该项目侧重于确定：1)碎片化如何影响营养结构；2)甲虫物种的生态位空间；3)某一甲虫物种是否？生态位空间以碎片的形式预测了它的灭绝风险。这位研究员将使用甲虫的碳和氮稳定同位素比率(ä13C和ä15N)来解决这些问题。除了提供对碎片化如何影响不同节肢动物群落的机械理解外，这些结果还将通过预测哪些物种最容易受到碎片化影响来服务于保护生物学。这位研究员将接受定量技能、稳定同位素分析、教学和指导方面的培训。该研究员致力于教育和为本科生提供研究机会，特别是那些来自代表不足的群体的学生，并在课堂、实验室和领域成为榜样。该项目的教学部分将包括与科罗拉多大学的科学教育倡议(STEM倡议)的科学教学研究员合作编写课程材料，以及与本科生合作开发K-12课程材料。

A large-scale, experimental test of how habitat fragmentation affects trophic structure, species niches, and extinction risk Fundamental properties of populations and communities are affected by habitat loss and fragmentation--pervasive threats to many ecosystems. Because effects of landscape alteration are complex and intertwined, a central goal of landscape ecology is to tease apart the mechanisms through which populations and communities are altered by changes of habitat patches. Manipulative experiments provide a means to this end. The fellow will assess impacts of fragmentation on a diverse community of beetles in a large-scale experiment, the Wog Wog Habitat Fragmentation Experiment in Australia. Specifically the project focuses on determining: 1) How fragmentation affects trophic structure and 2) the niche space of beetle species; 3) Whether a given beetle species? niche space predicts its extinction risk in fragments. The fellow will use beetle carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios (ä13C and ä15N) to address these questions. In addition to providing a mechanistic understanding of how fragmentation affects a diverse arthropod community, these results will serve conservation biology by predicting which species are most at risk by fragmentation. This fellow will be trained in quantitative skills, stable isotope analysis, teaching, and mentoring. The fellow is committed to education and providing research opportunities to undergraduate students, especially those from underrepresented groups, and to being a role model in the classroom, laboratory, and field. The teaching components of this project will include developing course material in collaboration with Science Teaching Fellows in University of Colorado's Science Education Initiative (a STEM initiative) and developing K-12 material in collaboration with undergraduates.