NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2016

研究员姓名：塔拉M。SmileyProposal Number：1612002该奖项为2016财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金提供资金，研究使用生物收集。该研究金支持研究员的研究和培训计划，以采取变革性方法应对生物学的重大挑战，以高度创新的方式利用生物学收藏。 本奖学金的研究计划的标题为塔拉M。Smiley是“气候变化下的生态相互作用和社区集会：新生代的观点。“这个奖学金的主办机构是俄勒冈州州立大学，赞助科学家是丽贝卡·特里博士。 这项研究评估了在过去地质学上两个气候变暖间隔期间支持社区集会和持久性的过程，这些过程在幅度，速率和环境背景方面有所不同。 研究结果将促进对人为气候变化的理解，因为随着人类活动迅速改变自然环境，新的气候和非模拟生物群落将变得更加普遍。该研究员正在研究群落生态学的三个方面：1）在当地范围内物种的周转; 2）生态位动态沿着身体大小和资源使用梯度;#8232;和3）更高层次的聚合特性，如生物量和能量流在社区内和功能和大小类之间。这项研究的重点是小型哺乳动物（啮齿动物和兔形目动物），因为它们在分类学和生态学上具有多样性，数量丰富，便于在化石记录中进行社区层面的分析。 小型哺乳动物群落也是生态系统健康的指标;因此，了解过去气候变暖的基线生态反应是预测和尽量减少未来生物多样性损失的优先事项。该研究员正在使用来自俄勒冈州约翰戴和加利福尼亚州巴斯托的特殊化石收藏，这些化石收藏在约翰戴化石床国家纪念碑、华盛顿大学伯克博物馆和加州大学古生物博物馆，以回答这些问题，并通过激光消融质谱法和高分辨率X射线计算机微断层扫描（微CT）生成新的生态数据集。该研究员正在接受稳定同位素方法方面的培训，开发小生境模型，使用微型CT方法和数据集，并发展社区动态分析评估技能。 为了扩大对生物学的参与，该研究员正在指导本科生从博物馆标本中收集生态数据，并在俄勒冈州开发一个关于小型哺乳动物生态学的基于调查的模块，通过俄勒冈州州立大学的科学和数学调查性学习经验计划，吸引年轻、服务不足的学生参与生物学和保护。

Fellow's Name: Tara M. SmileyProposal Number: 1612002This award 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 Tara M. Smiley is "Ecological interactions and community assembly under climate change: a Cenozoic perspective." The host institution for this fellowship is Oregon State University, and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Rebecca Terry. This research evaluates the processes underpinning community assembly and persistence during two climate-warming intervals in the geologic past that differed in magnitude, rate, and environmental context. The research results will promote understanding of anthropogenic climate change, because novel climates and non-analog biotic communities will become more common as human activities rapidly change natural environments. The Fellow is examining three aspects of community ecology: 1) turnover of species at the local scale; 2) niche dynamics along body size and resource use gradients;
 and 3) higher-level aggregate properties such as biomass and energy flow within communities and among functional and size classes. This research focuses on small mammals (rodents and lagomorphs) because they are taxonomically and ecologically diverse and are numerically abundant, facilitating community-level analyses in the fossil record. Small mammal communities are also indicators of ecosystem health; therefore understanding baseline ecological response to past climate warming is a priority for forecasting and minimizing biodiversity loss in the future. The Fellow is using the exceptional fossil collections from the John Day, Oregon, and Barstow, California, formations housed at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, the University of Washington Burke Museum, and the University of California Museum of Paleontology to answer these questions, and to generate novel ecological datasets via laser-ablation mass spectrometry and high-resolution X-ray computed microtomography (micro CT). The Fellow is receiving training in stable isotope methods, developing niche models, using micro CT methods and datasets, and developing skills for the analytical assessment of community dynamics. To broaden participation in biology, the Fellow is mentoring undergraduate students in the collection of ecological data from museum specimens and developing an inquiry-based module on small-mammal ecology in Oregon to engage young, underserved students in biology and conservation through Oregon State University's Science and Math Investigative Learning Experiences program.