NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2015

这项行动为2015财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金提供资金，扩大参与。该研究金支持研究员在东道实验室的研究和培训计划，以及扩大在科学领域代表性不足的群体参与的计划。 克里斯托弗·谢尔（Christopher J. Schell）的研究计划的标题是“世界性的食肉动物：对城市环境中土狼成功背后的行为，激素和遗传因素的调查。“该奖学金的主办机构是科罗拉多州立大学和国家野生动物研究中心，赞助科学家是丽莎安杰洛尼博士（CSU）和斯图尔特布雷克（NWRC）。人类主导的景观不断扩大。 景观转换和破碎化是特别突出的食肉动物，因为它们需要大的连续栖息地，有严格的饮食需求，并有一个低的生殖输出。 然而，各种食肉动物已经通过饮食，活动和景观利用的变化来科普人类引起的环境变化。 个体行为的灵活性被认为是食肉动物城市居住不可或缺的，但迄今为止还没有研究量化这种灵活性。 激素和遗传变异可能是这种灵活性的基础;然而，没有内分泌或遗传数据存在。 郊狼是一个很好的模型系统，可以量化城市居住的生物后果，因为多个农村和大都市地区已经建立并记录了人口。 该研究评估了丹佛，CO和洛杉矶，CA地区的郊狼的压力激素，遗传变异和个性特征之间的关系，特别是激素皮质醇（对生物压力反应至关重要）和多巴胺受体D4基因（与提高活动，冲动和新奇寻求行为有关）如何与郊狼从自然到城市栖息地的宽容和大胆共同变化。 这些数据有助于解释城市郊狼的行为灵活性和其他相关的生物因素。职业发展活动包括改进教学技能。该研究员正在建立一个新的科学推广计划，名为“真实的怀尔E。狼，”一个教育系列，以吸引K-12学生在丹佛和洛杉矶。 该项目将学校参观与一个一致的博客网站相结合，以帮助消除长期以来关于城市郊狼的谬论，并为学生提供野生动物生物学的实践经验。 教育推广活动还包括在科罗拉多州立大学举行的年度多样性研讨会的讲习班，这是一个为期两天的会议，讨论多样性问题，以增加代表性不足的群体对野生动物科学的参与。 公共宣传包括在丹佛的市政厅会议或社区峰会上展示研究成果，使不直接熟悉城市食肉动物的观众能够接触到这项工作。

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 Christopher J. Schell is "Cosmopolitan carnivores: An investigation of the behavioral, hormonal, and genetic factors underlying coyote success in urban environments." The host institutions for this fellowship are Colorado State University and the National Wildlife Research Center, and the sponsoring scientists are Drs. Lisa Angeloni (CSU) and Stewart Breck (NWRC). Human-dominated landscapes are consistently expanding. Landscape conversion and fragmentation are particularly salient for carnivores, as they require large contiguous habitat, have strict dietary needs, and have a low reproductive output. Nevertheless, various carnivores have adjusted to cope with human-induced environmental change via dietary, activity, and landscape use changes. Individual behavioral flexibility is considered integral for carnivore urban residency, yet no study to date has quantified this flexibility. Hormones and genetic variation likely underlie this flexibility; however, no endocrine or genetic data exist. Coyotes are an excellent model system to quantify the biological consequences of urban residency, as multiple rural and metropolitan areas have established and documented populations. The fellowship research assesses the relationships among stress hormones, genetic variation, and personality traits of coyotes in the Denver, CO and Los Angeles, CA areas, specifically, how the hormone cortisol (crucial to the biological stress response) and the dopamine receptor D4 gene (linked to heightened activity, impulsivity, and novel-seeking behaviors) co-vary with tolerance and boldness of coyotes from natural to urban habitats. These data are useful for interpreting the range of behavioral flexibility and other associated biological factors in urban coyotes.Career advancement activities include refining teaching skills. The Fellow is establishing a new scientific outreach program titled "The REAL Wile E. Coyote," an educational series to engage K-12 students in Denver and Los Angeles. The program combines school visits with a congruent blog site to help dispel long-held fallacies about coyotes in cities and provide students hands-on experience with wildlife biology. Educational outreach also includes workshops for the annual Diversity Symposium held at CSU, a two-day conference addressing diversity issues to increase participation from under-represented groups in wildlife science. Public outreach includes presenting research findings at town hall meetings or neighborhood summits in Denver, making the work accessible to an audience not directly familiar with urban carnivores.