NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2015 (PRFB)

本行动资助美国国家科学基金会2015年度生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大参与。该奖学金支持该研究员在一个主办实验室的一项研究和培训计划，以及一项扩大科学界代表性不足群体参与的计划。这项奖学金的研究计划的标题是“利用古生物学数据评估环境变化对波多黎各蜥蜴多样性和分布的影响”。这项奖学金的主办机构是哈佛大学，赞助科学家是乔纳森·洛索斯博士。该研究利用蜥蜴来研究环境变化在形成多样性和物种分布方面所起的作用。在这项研究中使用了变色蜥蜴，因为它们的生态学和行为的许多方面都得到了很好的研究；这个蜥蜴属的许多物种都表现出适应性辐射（随着环境的变化而多样化）和趋同进化（在不同条件下出现相似性）。这些特性和它们的全球普遍性使它们成为本研究的理想研究生物，以确定它们在应对过去环境变化时的持续和多样化程度。通过将古生物学数据与历史和现代生态数据相结合，本研究旨在确定与物种存在/缺失相关的生态因素，并评估过去2万年的范围转移、灭绝和环境变化。预期的科学贡献包括通过新的挖掘和物种范围如何受到未来全球现象影响的模型来扩大加勒比化石记录。培训目标包括发展物种分布建模、地理信息系统和生态调查方面的专业知识。这项研究提供了与拉丁美洲科学家开展长期研究合作的机会；培训和指导来自美国和波多黎各代表性不足群体的高中生和本科生；并开发双语教材，向美国和波多黎各缺乏教育的K-12学生介绍进化生物学。为了实现这些目标，研究员正在与波士顿地区和波多黎各的教育工作者合作。公共宣传包括出版一张时空地图，以说明波多黎各印第安人的多样性和随时间的分布。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2015, Broadening Participation. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow and a plan to broaden participation of groups under-represented in science. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Melissa Kemp is "Evaluating the impact of environmental change the diversity and distribution of Anolis lizards in Puerto Rico using paleontological data." The host institution for this fellowship is Harvard University and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Jonathan Losos. The research uses Anolis lizards to investigate the role environmental change plays in shaping diversity and species distributions through time and by location. Anoles are used in this study as many aspects of their ecology and behavior are well-studied; and this genus of lizards contains many species that show both adaptive radiation (diversifying into new forms as their environment changes) and convergent evolution (similarities appearing under different conditions). These properties and their global prevalence make them ideal study organisms for this study to determine how well they have persisted and diversified in response to past changes in environments. By integrating paleontological data with historical and present-day ecological data, this research seeks to identify ecological factors that correlate with the presence/absence of species and evaluate range shifts, extinction, and environmental change over the past 20,000 years. Expected scientific contributions include the augmentation of the Caribbean fossil record with new excavations and models of how species ranges may be impacted by future global phenomena.Training goals include developing expertise in species distribution modeling, Geographic Information Systems, and ecological surveying. The research provides an opportunity to develop long-term research collaborations with Latin American scientists; train and mentor high school and undergraduate students from underrepresented groups in the U.S. and Puerto Rico; and develop bilingual educational material to introduce underserved K-12 students in the U.S. and Puerto Rico to evolutionary biology. In order to achieve these goals, the Fellow is partnering with educators in the Boston area as well as in Puerto Rico. Public outreach includes publication of a spatiotemporal map to illustrate the diversity and distribution of Puerto Rican anoles over time.