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

这一行动为NSF 2019财年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。热带雨林树冠仍然是地球生物学中最多样但研究不足的领域之一。附生植物，如兰花、蕨类和苔藓，生活在树冠上。这些气生植物种类繁多，有助于重要的生态系统进程，并为动物提供重要的资源。然而，附生植物正受到伐木和世界各地气候变化的影响的威胁。因此，这项研究对保护也有意义。该项目旨在了解附生植物如何组装，如何随着时间的推移而变化，并维持一个多样化和健康的群落。将对太平洋西北部和巴拿马森林的树冠上的附生植物进行分析。这位研究员将继续努力，通过用西班牙语和英语教学、指导和领导，促进一个更具包容性的科学界。这位研究员的研究将直接有助于长期存在的关于殖民和作为植物群落组装驱动力的生态位过程之间的理论辩论。如果生态位过程是群落聚集的主要驱动力，则附生植物将按寄主物种(寄主树种专一性假说)、高度层(垂直生态位分层假说)和向地面的方向进行分类。或者，如果定殖化过程是附生植物聚集的主要中介，繁殖体的可用性将比微生境更好地预测随后的多样性(扩散限制假说)。为了验证这些假设，这位研究员将在温带雨林和热带雨林的30棵附生植物集中的树木的整个剖面上建立540个无真菌的永久样地，通过实验控制基质的高度和方向。每年，该研究员将对所有地块进行调查，以量化重建附生植物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)通过沟通增加拉丁裔的参与；2)通过实践研究指导本科生；3)通过独立的研究项目将国际经验扩展到代表不足的群体。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, 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.