NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2018

这一行动为2018财年NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金提供资金，扩大了生物学领域代表性不足群体的参与。该奖学金支持一项针对该研究员的研究和培训计划，该计划将增加生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。最近，人类(人为)感官污染--噪音和夜灯--的增加在化石记录中是史无前例的，可能从根本上扰乱动物与环境互动的方式。有限的研究集中在噪音或光线对动物交流和繁殖的单一影响上。然而，在当今人类占主导地位的世界里，人类制造的噪音和光线通常是共存的，因此了解它们的组合影响是一项紧迫的保护优先事项。这项研究旨在了解人类造成的噪音和光照如何影响鸟类群体的繁殖成功。这位研究员将研究在嘈杂和黑暗、明亮和安静、嘈杂和明亮、安静和安静的地点筑巢、筑巢成功和雏鸟生存。通过专注于几个物种，研究员将能够确定鸟类群落如何随着感官污染而变化，物种内的行为如何变化(即筑巢时间、喂食率、移动或回避行为)，以及哪些物种更有可能在感官污染地区取得成功。确定人类活动造成的感官污染的后果，为保护野生地方、物种和协调自然与人类互动的空间奠定了基础。结果将被用于向国家公园自然声音和夜空分部和土地管理局的合作伙伴提供信息，以帮助保护物种并协调人类污染和保护。该项目通过资助多个不同的学生，并允许研究员从事感觉生态学和教育推广方面的新颖研究，扩大了生物学中代表性不足或看不见的群体的参与，包括LGBTQ、少数族裔和西班牙裔学生。这位研究员将指导不同的学生，作为她的野外团队的一部分，并正在为加利福尼亚州中部人数不足的学生开发感觉生态学研讨会。该研究员将通过实施四种处理(噪音、光、光+噪音和放大控制)的大规模操控野外实验，测试噪音和光污染对新墨西哥州一个鸟类群落繁殖成功和幼鸟存活的影响。通过测量定居模式、繁殖成功和活动状态，这位研究员将测试将暴露于感官刺激与健康变化联系起来的机械路径。羽翼未丰的存活将通过无线电遥测来监测，以测试假设的直接和间接的、捕食者中介的暴露后果。这位研究员预计，噪音会降低孵化和幼鸟的成功率，而光照会增加产卵量和补给率，但会增加对捕食的脆弱性。因此，这位研究员预计，光+噪音对健康的影响将是喜忧参半。该研究员还将招募和培训不同的学生，以获得生物学领域的经验，并为K-12学校中代表性不足的学生开展外联和研讨会。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2018, Broadening Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. Recently, the rise in anthropogenic (human-made) sensory pollution - noise and nightlight - present conditions that are unprecedented in the fossil record and could fundamentally disrupt the ways in which animals interact with the environment. Limited research has focused on the singular effects of noise or light on animal communication and reproduction. However, human-made noise and light typically co-occur in today's human-dominated world, thus understanding their combined influence is an urgent conservation priority. This research aims to understand how human-caused noise and light affects reproductive success among a community of birds. The fellow will study nest placement, nesting success, and fledgling survival across noisy and dark, bright and quiet, noisy and bright, and quiet and dark sites. By focusing on several species, the fellow will be able determine how the bird community changes with sensory pollution, how behaviors within species change (i.e. nesting timing, feeding rates, movement or avoidance behaviors), and which species are more likely to succeed in sensory polluted areas. Determining the consequences of sensory pollution caused by anthropogenic activities lays the groundwork for conserving wild places, species, and reconciling spaces where nature and humanity interact. Results will be used to inform partners at the National Parks Division of Natural Sounds and Night Skies and Bureau of Land Management to help protect species and reconcile human pollution with conservation. This project broadens participation of groups underrepresented or invisible in biology, including LGBTQ, minorities and Hispanic students by funding multiple diverse students, and allowing the fellow to engage in novel research in sensory ecology and educational outreach. The fellow will mentor diverse students as a part of her field crew and is developing sensory ecology workshops for underrepresented students in central California.The fellow will test the effects of noise and light pollution on breeding success and fledgling survival of a community of birds in New Mexico by implementing a large-scale manipulative field experiment with four treatments (Noise, Light, Light + Noise, & Control). By measuring settlement patterns, reproductive success, and activity states, the fellow will test mechanistic pathways that link exposure to sensory stimuli to changes in fitness. Fledgling survival will be monitored with radio telemetry to test hypothesized direct and indirect, predator mediated consequences of exposure. The fellow expects noise to decrease hatching and juvenile success, while light increases clutch size and provisioning rates but increases vulnerability to predation. Thus, the fellow expects Light + Noise will have mixed effects on fitness. The fellow will also recruit and train diverse students to gain biological field experience and develop outreach and workshops for underrepresented students in K-12 schools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.