NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2015

这一行动为2015财年NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金--使用生物收藏进行研究--提供资金。该奖学金支持该研究员的研究和培训计划，以采取变革性的方法来应对生物学领域的重大挑战，以高度创新的方式利用生物收藏。这项研究计划的标题是“阐明佛罗里达灌木鸟当代进化的基因组和表型基础”。该奖学金的主办机构是加州大学戴维斯分校，赞助科学家是格雷厄姆·库珀博士。最近的研究表明，在许多不同的生物体中，生态时间尺度(也就是说，比之前认为的要短)的进化。研究当代进化是直接测试进化生物学中许多基本问题的唯一途径，例如在存在选择的情况下，高水平的遗传变异是否持续存在。已经提出了几种理论来解释这一长期存在的悖论；然而，这些预测在自然种群中很少得到经验性的验证，因为它们需要一种特殊类型的生物收集：存档的DNA样本以及相关的表型和适应能力测量，跨越多代数千个个体。尽管人们对实时测量进化的兴趣越来越大，合适的数据集的可用性也越来越高，但从这些类型的数据中推断自然选择的严格方法仍然缺乏。需要开发新的方法，利用纵向种群样本和系谱信息来测试在不同生活史阶段对复杂性状的选择。这个研究当代进化的强大框架进一步增加了可以从生物收藏中获得的洞察力。这项奖学金研究开发并应用了新颖的分析方法，利用康奈尔脊椎动物博物馆独特的血液和DNA样本档案以及阿奇博尔德生物站存储的相关人口统计和生态数据，对佛罗里达蓝嘴鸦(Aphelooma Coulescens)复杂性状的短期选择进行了研究。将这些方法应用于佛罗里达灌木鸟，提高了我们对选择在维持自然种群遗传多样性方面的重要性的理解。培训目标包括获得开发和应用新的种群遗传学和统计遗传学方法所需的计算和定量技能。更广泛的影响包括开放源码软件的开发，跨学科研究的本科生培训，以及向公众以及政府和保护机构传达研究结果。佛罗里达灌木鸦是北美最稀有的鸟类之一，这项工作的成果有望为该物种的保护工作提供信息。研究结果还通过教育推广活动和康奈尔鸟类学实验室-S交流渠道传播，以增加公众对生态时代种群内进化过程的了解。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2015, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow to take transformative approaches to grand challenges in biology that employ biological collections in highly innovative ways. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Nancy Chen is "Elucidating the genomic and phenotypic basis of contemporary evolution in Florida Scrub-Jays." The host institution for this fellowship is the University of California, Davis, and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Graham Coop. Recent studies have demonstrated evolution on ecological timescales (that is, shorter than previously thought) in a number of different organisms. Studying contemporary evolution is the only way to directly test many fundamental questions in evolutionary biology, such as the persistence of high levels of genetic variation in the presence of selection. Several theories seeking to explain this long-standing paradox have been proposed; however, empirical validations of these predictions are rare in natural populations because they require a particular type of biological collection: archived DNA samples with associated phenotypic and fitness measures for several thousand individuals over multiple generations. Despite increasing interest in measuring evolution in real-time and increasing availability of suitable datasets, rigorous methods for inferring natural selection from these types of data are lacking. Needed is the development of new methods that leverage longitudinal population samples and pedigree information to test for selection on complex traits at different life-history stages. This powerful framework for studying contemporary evolution further increases the insights that can be gained from biological collections. The fellowship research develops and applies novel analytical methods to study short-term selection on complex traits in the Florida Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens), using a unique collection of archived blood and DNA samples at the Cornell Museum of Vertebrates as well as associated demographic and ecological data stored at Archbold Biological Station. Application of these methods to the Florida Scrub-Jays improves our understanding of the importance of selection in maintaining genetic variation in natural populations. Training goals include gaining the computational and quantitative skills necessary to develop and apply novel population genetics and statistical genetics methods. Broader impacts involve development of open-source software, undergraduate training in interdisciplinary research, and communication of research findings to the general public as well as government and conservation agencies. The Florida Scrub-Jay is one of the rarest birds in North America, and results from this work promise to inform conservation efforts for this species. Results are also being disseminated via educational outreach activities and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology?s communication outlets to increase public understanding of evolutionary processes operating within populations in ecological time.