NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2019: Trophic response of marine top predators to decadal changes in food web structure

这一行动为NSF 2019财年生物学博士后研究奖学金-使用生物收藏进行研究-提供资金。该奖学金支持将以创新方式利用生物收藏的研究员的研究和培训。由于气候变化和渔业的迅速扩张，世界海洋在过去一个世纪经历了前所未有的变化。揭示这些耦合环境应激源之间的关系及其对海洋顶级捕食者(如海洋哺乳动物、海龟)摄食行为的影响，对于我们理解海洋生态系统的功能、健康、弹性和对环境干扰的适应至关重要。该项目将对来自多个研究收藏的存档海洋哺乳动物和海龟组织应用尖端分子化学技术，以研究自19世纪末以来，随着气候和渔业的变化，觅食策略和食物网络结构是如何改变的。这些信息可以用来预测海洋捕食者及其控制的食物网在即将到来的世纪将如何响应未来的生态系统变化。该项目将使用氨基酸同位素地球化学来重建自19世纪末以来支持北大西洋西部常见的宽吻海豚、港口江豚和黑头海龟的食物网结构的关键参数(例如，营养位置、生态位宽度、食物网基线)的变化。具体地说，这些数据将被用来检验三个关键假说：1)海洋生产力的十年变化与主要气候变化相关，导致海洋顶部捕食者营养生态位的扩张/收缩，2)猎物和捕食者丰度的下降是否导致海洋顶级捕食者通过在较低的营养水平觅食或扩大其营养生态位来进行补偿；3)共域物种恢复带来的种间竞争加剧是否导致营养生态位收缩。这种多物种的方法将解决营养对环境变化的反应的相互矛盾的描述。作为该项目的一部分，该研究员将与罗德岛大学的内空间中心(URI-ISC)合作，开发与海洋科学和项目活动有关的教育短片和互动节目。利用URI-ISC独特的网真能力，推广产品和计划将被用于跨多个平台(例如，社交媒体、K-12课堂)吸引公众和下一代科学家的参与。该项目还将通过利用URI赞助的项目来支持研究参与和培训的多样性，这些项目扩大了STEM中代表性不足的群体的参与。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 2019, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will utilize biological collections in innovative ways. The World Ocean has experienced unprecedented changes over the past century as a result of climate change and the rapid expansion of fisheries. Uncovering the relationships between these coupled environmental stressors and their impact on the feeding behavior of marine top predators (e.g., marine mammals, sea turtles) is critical to our understanding of the functioning, health, resilience, and adaptation of marine ecosystems to environmental disturbance. This project will apply cutting-edge molecular chemistry techniques to archived marine mammal and sea turtle tissues from multiple research collections to examine how foraging strategies and food web structure have changed since the late 19th century in response to changes in climate and fishing. Such information can be used to predict how marine predators and the food webs they control will respond to future ecosystem change in the upcoming century.The project will use amino acid isotope geochemistry to reconstruct changes in critical parameters of food web architecture (e.g., trophic position, niche breadth, food web baseline) supporting common bottlenose dolphins, harbour porpoises, and loggerhead sea turtles in the western North Atlantic since the late 1800's. Specifically, these data will be used to test three key hypotheses: 1) do decadal shifts in ocean productivity associated with major climatic shifts cause expansion/contraction of marine top predator trophic niches, 2) do declining prey and predator abundances cause marine top predators to compensate by foraging at lower trophic levels or expanding their trophic niches, 3) does increased interspecific competition from the recovery of sympatric species cause trophic niches to contract. This multi-species approach will resolve conflicting accounts of trophic response to environmental change. As part of this project, the fellow will partner with the University of Rhode Island's Inner Space Center (URI-ISC) to develop short educational videos and interactive programming related to ocean science and project activities. Using the URI-ISC's unique telepresence capacity, outreach products and programs will be used to engage the public and next generation of scientists across multiple platforms (e.g., social media, K-12 classrooms). This project will also support diversity in research engagement and training by making use of URI-sponsored programs that broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM.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.