NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology for FY 2014

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NSF Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biology combine research and training components to prepare young scientists for careers in emerging areas where biology intersects with other scientific disciplines, in this case with mathematics and physical sciences. The Fellows are expected to be leaders of the nation's scientific workforce in the future. This fellowship to Sarah R. Supp supports a research and training plan at the intersection of biology, statistics, and computer science and examines how body size responds to environmental change. The host institutions for this fellowship are the University of Maine and the University of Vermont, and the sponsoring scientists are Brian McGill and Nicholas Gotelli. It is difficult to describe, predict, and preserve biodiversity in the face of rapid environmental change, yet these are critical goals for conservation efforts. A macroecological approach to understanding diversity uses patterns, e.g., body size, that exhibit regular behavior across taxonomic groups, ecosystems, and continents. This research develops a dynamic framework for macroecology through 1) data aggregation and access, 2) mechanistic complex system modeling, and 3) cross-scale analysis. Body size patterns integrate taxonomic, functional, and trait diversity, and changes to these patterns are being shown to be vital to understanding changes in ecosystem function. Size patterns are expected to be sensitive to perturbation since mechanisms that influence body size include species interactions and energetic constraints, which can be rapidly impacted in human-altered landscapes. These interactions are being studied by developing and using an interactive model for predicting pattern response to global change scenarios. Training goals include developing expertise in data informatics and advanced statistical and computational modeling techniques. Broader impacts include development of undergraduate courses, participation by under-represented groups, computer science outreach programs, online science communication, and open-access sharing of all research products.