NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2019: Assembly in the air: Experimentally testing colonization versus niche hypotheses in aerial plant communities

这项行动资助了2019财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大了生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。该研究金支持研究员的一项研究和培训计划，该计划将增加在生物学领域代表性不足的群体的参与。雨林树冠仍然是地球生物学中最多样化但研究不足的领域之一。附生植物，如兰花，蕨类植物和苔藓，生活在树冠。这些气生植物具有高度多样性，有助于重要的生态系统过程，并为动物提供重要的资源。然而，附生植物正受到伐木和全球气候变化的威胁。因此，这项研究对保护也有影响。该项目旨在了解附生植物如何组装，随时间变化，并保持多样化和健康的社区。将分析太平洋西北部和巴拿马森林树冠中的附生植物。该研究员将继续通过西班牙语和英语的教学，指导和领导来促进更具包容性的科学界。研究员的研究将直接有助于殖民与生态位过程作为植物群落组装的驱动力之间的长期理论辩论。如果生态位过程是群落组装的主要驱动力，则附生植物将按宿主物种（宿主树种特异性假说）、高度层（垂直生态位分层假说）和地面方向进行分类。或者，如果殖民化过程是附生植物大会的主要介质，繁殖体的可用性将是一个更好的预测随后的多样性比微生境（扩散限制假说）。为了验证这些假设，研究员将建立540个无真菌永久采样地块，在温带和热带雨林的30个真菌负载的焦点树木的整个配置文件，实验操纵基板的高度和方向。每年，研究员将调查所有地块，以量化重新建立的真菌群落的多样性和组成的变化。这项工作涉及国际合作以及与纽约植物园的合作，这将有助于分类学、DNA测序方面的培训，并提供一个新的生态系统。该研究员将通过三个主要目标促进学术界的多样性：1）为增加拉丁美洲的参与搭建沟通的桥梁; 2）通过实践研究指导本科生; 3）通过独立研究项目将国际经验扩展到代表性不足的群体。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响力审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2019, 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. The rainforest canopy remains one of the most diverse yet understudied areas of earth's biology. Epiphytes, such as orchids, ferns, and mosses, live in the canopy. These aerial plants are highly diverse, contribute to important ecosystem processes, and provide vital resources for animals. Epiphytes, however, are being threatened by logging and the effects of a changing climate across the world. This research, therefore, also has implications for conservation. The project aims to understand how epiphytes assemble, change over time, and maintain a diverse and healthy community. Epiphytes will be analyzed in the canopies of forests in the Pacific Northwest and Panama. The Fellow will continue work promoting a more inclusive scientific community by teaching, mentoring, and leadership in Spanish and English. The Fellow's research will directly contribute to the longstanding theoretical debate between colonization versus niche processes as drivers of plant community assembly. If niche processes are the primary driver of community assembly, epiphytes will be sorted by host species (the Host Tree Species Specificity Hypothesis), by height strata (the Vertical Niche Stratification Hypothesis), and by orientation to the ground. Alternatively, if colonization processes are the primary mediator of epiphyte assembly, propagule availability will be a better predictor of subsequent diversity than microhabitat (the Dispersal Limitation Hypothesis). To test these hypotheses, the Fellow will establish 540 epiphyte-free permanent sampling plots throughout the profile of 30 epiphyte-laden focal trees in both temperate and tropical rainforests, experimentally manipulating substrate height and orientation. Each year, the Fellow will survey all plots to quantify changes in the diversity and composition of the re-establishing epiphyte communities. The work involves collaboration internationally and with the New York Botanical Garden, which will contribute to training in taxonomy, DNA sequencing and provide a new ecosystem. The Fellow will promote diversity in academia via three major aims: 1) Bridging communication for increased Latinx participation; 2) Mentoring undergraduates via hands-on research; and 3) Extending international experiences to underrepresented groups via independent study projects.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.