NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2016

博士后研究员：Matthew R. Borths 提案号 1612062 此行动资助 2016 财年 NSF 生物学博士后研究奖学金，利用生物收藏进行跨学科研究。该奖学金支持研究员的研究和培训计划，以从事利用生物收藏品的研究和培训。 马修·博思 (Matthew Borths) 的这项研究计划的标题是“现代非洲生态系统出现时哺乳动物食肉动物的多样性、替代和灭绝”。该奖学金的主办机构是俄亥俄大学，资助科学家是南希·史蒂文斯。该项目研究两千三百万年前非洲大陆与欧亚大陆碰撞后非洲食物网的变化。当这次大陆碰撞发生时，原产于非洲的动物扩散到亚洲、欧洲和美洲的生态系统，而原产于这些北部大陆的动物则向南扩散到非洲的生态系统。碰撞之前，非洲食物链的顶端被鬣齿兽类掠食者占据，鬣齿兽类是一种现已灭绝的哺乳动物。碰撞之后，现代猫、狗和猫鼬的近亲入侵非洲，并开始与鬣狗一起占据食肉动物的生态位。大约八百万年前，曾经是一个多样化且占主导地位的食肉动物群体的鬣狗已经灭绝。该研究员正在研究非洲历史上的这一关键时期，当时来自不同大陆的食肉动物彼此相遇，并建立了一项自然实验，以帮助了解食物链顶端的变化如何影响生态系统。为了实现这一目标，该研究员正在使用多个生物样本来分析非洲食肉动物组合的变化，并开发曾经占主导地位的鬣齿兽食肉动物在非洲以外的食肉动物入侵之前和之后所占据的生态位的模型。在坦桑尼亚鲁夸裂谷盆地和肯尼亚梅斯瓦桥收集的新发现的鬣齿兽材料正在被描述，以更好地了解这一生态转变期间鬣齿兽的全部多样性。如今，食肉动物在稳定生态系统和支持生物多样性方面发挥着重要作用。但是，在世界各地，食肉动物正在迅速消失在现代生态系统中。通过该项目取得的发现将为政策制定者提供深入的时间视角，他们必须应对北美和世界各地哺乳动物食肉动物多样性和种群数量的迅速减少。该研究员正在接受古生物学方法和生态位建模方面的培训。他还指导从科学界代表性不足的群体中招募的本科研究人员，包括俄亥俄大学的阿巴拉契亚学者计划。该研究员正在通过“过去的时间”向更广泛的非专业受众展示他的研究结果，这是他共同创建的一个项目，该项目使用博客、播客和古生物学实验室的虚拟实地考察来说明古生物学的科学过程。该研究员还与赞助商史蒂文斯合作，为俄亥俄大学的自然历史和环境博物馆创建在线和实体展览，该博物馆将展示该项目的部分内容。对于阿巴拉契亚俄亥俄州和西弗吉尼亚州的许多 K-12 学生来说，这个博物馆将是最近的自然历史展览空间。

Postdoctoral Fellow: Matthew R. BorthsProposal Number 1612062This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2016, Interdisciplinary Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow to engage in research and training that utilizes biological collections. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Matthew Borths is "Mammalian carnivore diversity, replacement, and extinction when the modern African ecosystem emerged." The host institution for this fellowship is Ohio University, and the sponsoring scientist is Nancy Stevens.This project examines changes in African food webs after the continent of Africa collided with Eurasia twenty-three million years ago. When this continental collision occurred, animals native to Africa spread into Asian, European, and American ecosystems while animals native to these northern continents spread south into African ecosystems. Before the collision, the top of the African food chain was occupied by predators from Hyaenodonta, a group of mammals that are now extinct. After the collision, relatives of modern cats, dogs, and mongooses invaded Africa and started to occupy carnivore niches alongside hyaenodonts. By about eight million years ago, the hyaenodonts, once a diverse and dominant group of carnivores, were extinct. The Fellow is examining this crucial time period in African history, when carnivores from different continents encountered one another, establishing a natural experiment that will facilitate understanding how changes at the top of the food chain affect the ecosystem. To accomplish this goal, the Fellow is using several biological collections to analyze changes in African carnivore assemblages, and developing models of the niches occupied by the once-dominant hyaenodont carnivores before and after the invasion of carnivores from outside Africa. Newly discovered hyaenodont material collected in the Rukwa Rift Basin of Tanzania and Meswa Bridge in Kenya is being described to better understand the full diversity of hyaenodonts during this ecological transition. Today, carnivores play a significant role in stabilizing their ecosystems and supporting biodiversity. But, around the world, carnivores are rapidly being lost in modern ecosystems. The discoveries made through this project will provide a deep time perspective to policymakers who must confront the rapid decrease in mammalian carnivore diversity and populations in North America and around the world. The Fellow is receiving training in paleobiological methods and niche modeling. He is also mentoring undergraduate researchers recruited from underrepresented groups in science, including the Appalachian Scholars program at Ohio University. The Fellow is making his results accessible to a wider, non-specialized audience through Past Time, a project he co-created and that uses blogging, podcasts, and virtual fieldtrips to paleontology labs to illustrate the scientific process through paleontology. The Fellow is also collaborating with sponsor Stevens to create online and physical exhibits for a natural history and environment museum at Ohio University, which will feature portions of this project. For many K-12 students in Appalachian Ohio and West Virginia, this museum will be the closest natural history exhibit space.