NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2016

申请号：1611752本行动资助美国国家科学基金会2016年度生物学博士后研究奖学金，利用生物馆藏进行研究。该奖学金支持一项研究和培训计划，使研究员能够以高度创新的方式采用生物收集的变革性方法来应对生物学方面的重大挑战。莫利·c·沃马克的这项研究计划的标题是“阿努兰骨骼进化的选择和限制”。该奖学金的主办机构是加州大学伯克利分校和史密森学会的国家自然历史博物馆，赞助科学家是埃里卡·布里·罗森布鲁姆博士（加州大学伯克利分校）和蕾娜·贝尔博士（史密森学会）。本研究的目的是确定在1.6亿年的进化过程中，选择压力和进化限制对青蛙（无蛙类）骨骼多样性的影响。研究员正在使用x射线显微断层扫描（micro-CT）检查200个属的骨骼，涵盖所有55个科的青蛙。利用这个数据集，研究员正在分析性状的共同进化，并提供了一个全面的无尾猿骨骼多样性研究。尽管在自然界中看到的形式有很大的多样性，但在密切相关的物种和深度分化的物种（趋同进化）中，特定的表型反复进化。青蛙表现出猖獗的趋同现象，为研究制约进化趋同的约束和选择压力以及形态进化的限制提供了一个特殊的系统。该研究员正在利用加州大学伯克利分校脊椎动物博物馆和史密森尼国家自然历史博物馆的藏品来生成一个数据集，以了解趋同进化和进化发展。200具非人龙骨骼的3D模型将免费提供给其他研究人员和公众，使未来的研究可以轻松地从博物馆标本中收集形态数据，而无需破坏任何精心保管的标本。除了拟议的研究之外，研究员还利用这个广泛的数据集来突出青蛙的物种和分支，这将为未来调查骨骼特征进化的研究提供理想的比较。该研究员正在接受微型ct方法和比较系统发育分析方面的培训。该研究员正在与伯克利自然历史博物馆项目和史密森尼的Q？Rius计划创建和实现课程，以便向广大受众传达适应和趋同进化等概念。这些课程使用的是研究员制作的博物馆标本骨骼的交互式3D模型，这些模型通过伯克利自然历史博物馆项目和Q？rius网站。该研究员还指导多名本科生研究人员对3D数据的操作和量化，以及用于比较系统发育分析的数据。这些本科生研究人员也可以访问由研究员的研究产生的广泛数据集，用于独立的研究项目。

Postdoctoral Fellow: Molly C. Womack Proposal number: 1611752 This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2016, 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 Molly C. Womack is 'Selection and Constraints on Evolution of the Anuran Skeleton' The host institutions for this fellowship are the University of California-Berkeley and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, and the sponsoring scientists are Dr. Erica Bree Rosenblum (UC-Berkeley) and Dr. Rayna Bell (Smithsonian). The goal of this research is to identify selection pressures and evolutionary limitations acting on the skeleton diversity of frogs (anurans) over 160 million years of evolution. The Fellow is using X-ray microtomography (micro-CT) to examine the skeletons of 200 genera, spanning all 55 families of frogs. Using this dataset, the Fellow is analyzing the co-evolution of traits and providing a comprehensive study of anuran skeleton diversity. Despite the vast diversity of forms seen in nature, particular phenotypes evolve repeatedly across both closely related and deeply divergent species (convergent evolution). Frogs show rampant convergence and provide an exceptional system for researching the constraints and selection pressures that dictate evolutionary convergence as well as the limits of morphological evolution. The Fellow is using collections at the UC-Berkeley Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History to generate a dataset to understand convergent evolution and evolutionary development. The 3D models of 200 anuran skeletons are being made freely available to other researchers and the public, allowing future studies to easily collect morphological data from museum specimens without destruction of any curated specimens. In addition to the proposed research, the Fellow is utilizing this extensive dataset to highlight species and clades of frogs that would provide ideal comparisons for future research investigating the evolution of skeletal traits. The Fellow is receiving training in micro-CT methods and comparative phylogenetic analyses. The Fellow is collaborating with both the Berkeley Natural History Museums Project and the Smithsonian's Q?rius program to create and implement lessons to communicate concepts such as adaptation and convergent evolution to broad audiences. These lessons use interactive 3D models of museum specimen skeletons that the Fellow is generating, and that are being made freely available for teachers and the general public through the Berkeley Natural History Museums Project and Q?rius websites. The Fellow is also mentoring multiple undergraduate researchers on the manipulation and quantification of 3D data as well as data for comparative phylogenetic analyses. These undergraduate researchers also have access to the broad dataset generated by the Fellow's research, for use in independent research projects.