NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2015 (PRFB)

2015 财年 NSF 生物学博士后奖学金 (PRFB)

• 批准号: 1523880
• 负责人: Laura Lagomarsino
• 金额: $ 23.07万
• 依托单位: Lagomarsino Laura P
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-10-01 至 2018-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1523880&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; FY

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 Laura Lagomarsino is "Disentangling the abiotic and biotic drivers of rapid plant evolution in the Andean biodiversity hotspot." The host institutions for this fellowship are the University of Missouri, St. Louis and the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), and the sponsoring scientists are Nathan Muchhala and Alexandre Antonelli. This fellowship is funded jointly with the Office of International Science and Engineering. Forming international collaborations is not only beneficial to the young scientist who conducts research at the foreign location, but is also in the U.S. national interest because that experience in a world-class research organization exposes the next generation of science leaders to the best the host country has to offer in terms of state-of-the-art research and the promises of continuing collaborations that will continue to strengthen U.S. science in the future.The Andean mountain chains of South America are home to exceptionally high levels of biodiversity, including one-sixth of all plant species. The 550 species of Neotropical bellflowers in the genera Centropogon, Burmeistera, and Siphocampylus represent just a small fraction of this diversity, but are one of the single largest Andean radiations. Hummingbirds and bats pollinate these species, which comprise a colorful and conspicuous element of the cloud forest flora. The herbarium collections at the Missouri Botanical Garden and the University of Gothenburg are being used to disentangle the relative roles that recent, dramatic mountain building and shifts between bat and bird pollinators have played in generating the outstanding diversity of Neotropical bellflowers. First it is necessary to infer a robust phylogeny, or pattern of evolutionary relationships. The specific method utilized (Hyb-Seq) is effective even when DNA quality and concentration are low, allowing herbarium specimens to be the primary source of genetic information. The extent to which geology has impacted diversification in the Neotropical bellflowers is then being investigated using models of Andean uplift, ecological niche modeling, and phylogenetic dating methods; these results are validated by fossil pollen core data. Finally, macro- and microevolutionary implications of pollinator shifts are being investigated using methods from comparative phylogenetics, pollination ecology, and population genetics. The microevolutionary component of the study couples extensive diurnal and nocturnal pollination observations with the quantification of gene flow in a putative case of sympatric speciation mediated by a shift from bat to hummingbird pollination.As the research is broadly interdisciplinary, training goals are to integrate techniques and viewpoints from phylogenetics, geology, pollination ecology, and population genetics. The Fellow is developing an educational module on vertebrate pollination suitable for K-12 students to be implemented as part of Missouri Botanical Garden's summer programming geared toward families. Additionally, the Fellow is developing and maintaining a website that makes high-resolution digital images of living and herbarium specimens of Neotropical bellflowers available to both the general public and researchers with specific interest in the group; this will be in addition to maintaining the Campanulaceae Working Group website. This Fellowship involves collaboration of researchers based in the US, Europe, and Latin America.

这项行动资助了 2015 财年 NSF 生物学博士后研究奖学金，即利用生物收藏进行的研究。该奖学金支持研究员的研究和培训计划，以高度创新的方式利用生物收藏，采取变革性方法应对生物学领域的重大挑战。 劳拉·拉戈马西诺 (Laura Lagomarsino) 的这项研究计划的标题是“解开安第斯生物多样性热点地区植物快速进化的非生物和生物驱动因素”。该奖学金的主办机构是密苏里大学圣路易斯分校和哥德堡大学（瑞典），资助科学家是 Nathan Muchhala 和 Alexandre Antonelli。 该奖学金由国际科学与工程办公室联合资助。 建立国际合作不仅有利于在国外进行研究的年轻科学家，而且也符合美国的国家利益，因为在世界级研究组织的经历使下一代科学领袖能够接触到东道国在最先进的研究方面所提供的最好的东西，并承诺继续合作，从而在未来继续加强美国的科学。南美洲的安第斯山脉拥有极高水平的生物多样性，包括 占所有植物种类的六分之一。 Centropogon、Burmeistera 和 Siphocampylus 属的 550 种新热带风铃草仅代表这种多样性的一小部分，但却是最大的安第斯辐射之一。蜂鸟和蝙蝠为这些物种授粉，这些物种构成了云林植物区系中色彩缤纷、引人注目的元素。密苏里植物园和哥德堡大学的植物标本馆被用来阐明最近戏剧性的造山运动以及蝙蝠和鸟类传粉者之间的转变在产生新热带风铃草的出色多样性方面所发挥的相对作用。首先，有必要推断出稳健的系统发育或进化关系模式。 即使在 DNA 质量和浓度较低的情况下，所采用的特定方法 (Hyb-Seq) 也很有效，使植物标本成为遗传信息的主要来源。然后使用安第斯隆起模型、生态位模型和系统发育测年方法来研究地质对新热带风铃草多样化的影响程度；这些结果得到了化石花粉核心数据的验证。最后，正在使用比较系统发育学、授粉生态学和群体遗传学的方法研究传粉媒介转变的宏观和微观进化影响。该研究的微进化部分将广泛的昼夜授粉观察与由蝙蝠授粉转变为蜂鸟授粉介导的同域物种形成的假定案例中的基因流量化结合起来。由于该研究广泛地是跨学科的，因此培训目标是整合来自系统发育学、地质学、授粉生态学和群体遗传学的技术和观点。该研究员正在开发一个适合 K-12 学生的脊椎动物授粉教育模块，该模块将作为密苏里植物园针对家庭的夏季计划的一部分实施。此外，该研究员正在开发和维护一个网站，向公众和对该群体有特定兴趣的研究人员提供新热带风铃草活体和植物标本的高分辨率数字图像；这将是对桔梗科工作组网站的维护的补充。该奖学金涉及美国、欧洲和拉丁美洲研究人员的合作。