NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2019: Using herbarium specimens and animal movement data to assess when animals will help plants track niches in a changing climate

这项行动资助了2019财年NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，使用生物收集的研究。该研究金支持研究员Tristan Nunez的研究和培训，并将以创新方式利用生物收藏。这位研究员的研究是关于动物是否可以帮助植物适应气候变化。植物必须遵循适合每个物种的气候条件。许多植物依赖动物为它们搬运种子，但野生动物栖息地的丧失使动物更难自由移动。这位研究员将使用创新的计算机模型来测试动物是否能够以正确的方向传播植物，并且足够快，使植物能够跟踪预期的未来气候变化。植物标本馆的收藏将提供有关植物产地和种子生产时间的信息。在线数据库将提供有关动物运动的时间和方向的信息。这项研究将有助于科学家更好地了解生态群落的发展和植物物种多样性和分布模式。这项研究的地图和预测可以帮助牧场主、农民、林业工作者以及土地和野生动物管理者了解气候变化如何改变重要植物的分布，这将有助于社会管理具有生态和文化重要性的植物物种，如越橘和其他传统食物，也有助于更好地了解入侵物种的传播。 该研究将评估与动物运动方向和速度以及植物种子物候学相关的物种特征将介导植物范围变化的假设。北美浆果和杂类草的多个属的物种分布和物候模型将允许预测植物种子可用性的时间和分布在现在和将来。熊、鸟和有蹄类动物运动的状态空间和网络流模型将描述动物种子传播相对于植物未来生态位空间的空间格局。研究结果将通过博物馆展览和支持土著社区和管理人员了解全球变化对传统食品，野生动物和生态系统的影响的平台进行交流。该研究员将由华盛顿大学的野生动物生态学家Laura Prugh博士和植物群落生态学家Janneke Hille Ris Lambers博士指导。这个机会将进一步的研究员的学术培训，通过扩大研究重点，包括植物-动物相互作用和物候学，并通过发展一个网络的学术和机构的合作和推广机会。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得的支持，通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

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, Tristan Nunez, and will utilize biological collections in innovative ways. The fellow's research asks whether animals can help plants move in response to a changing climate. Plants have to follow the climatic conditions that are right for each species. Many plants depend on animals to move their seeds for them, but the loss of wildlife habitat has made it harder for animals to move freely. The fellow will use innovative computer models to test whether animals could disperse plants in the right direction, and quickly enough, to enable plants to track expected future changes in climate. Herbarium collections will provide information on where plants are found and the timing of seed production. Online databases will provide information on the timing and direction of animal movements. This research will help scientists better understand the development of ecological communities and patterns of plant species diversity and distribution. The maps and predictions coming from this research can help ranchers, farmers, foresters, and land and wildlife managers understand how a changing climate might alter where important plants are found. This will help society manage ecologically and culturally important plant species, such as huckleberries and other traditional foods, and also better understand the spread of invasive species. The research will assess the hypothesis that species traits related to animal movement direction and rate and plant seed phenology will mediate plant range shifts. Species distribution and phenology models for multiple North American genera of berries and forbs will allow projection of the timing and distribution of plant seed availability in the present as well as in the future. State-space and network flow models of bear, bird, and ungulate movements will describe spatial patterns of animal seed dispersal relative to the future niche spaces of plants. Findings will be communicated through a museum exhibit and on platforms supporting indigenous communities and managers in understanding the effects of global change on traditional foods, wildlife, and ecosystems. The fellow will be mentored by Dr. Laura Prugh, a wildlife ecologist, and Dr. Janneke Hille Ris Lambers, a plant community ecologist, at the University of Washington. The opportunity will further the fellow's academic training, by broadening the research focus to include plant-animal interactions and phenology, and through development of a network of academic and agency collaborations and outreach opportunities.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.