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

本行动资助NSF 2019年度生物学博士后研究奖学金，利用生物馆藏进行研究。该奖学金支持特里斯坦·努涅斯的研究和培训，并将以创新的方式利用生物馆藏。这名研究员的研究问题是，动物是否可以帮助植物在气候变化的情况下移动。植物必须遵循适合每个物种的气候条件。许多植物依靠动物来为它们传播种子，但野生动物栖息地的丧失使动物更难自由移动。这名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和足够快的速度分散植物，从而使植物能够跟踪预期的未来气候变化。植物标本室的收藏将提供有关植物发现地点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。来自这项研究的地图和预测可以帮助牧场主、农民、护林员、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发现地点。这将有助于社会管理生态和文化上重要的植物物种，如越橘和其他传统食物，并更好地了解入侵物种的传播。本研究将评估与动物运动方向和速度有关的物种性状和植物种子物候对植物范围转移的调节作用。多种北美浆果和植物属的物种分布和物候模型将使我们能够预测现在和未来植物种子可用性的时间和分布。熊、鸟和有蹄类运动的状态空间和网络流动模型将描述动物种子传播的空间模式，相对于植物的未来生态位空间。调查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物、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劳拉·普鲁博士和植物群落生态学家詹内克·希尔·里斯·兰伯斯博士指导。通过扩大研究重点，包括动植物相互作用和物候学，以及通过发展学术和机构合作网络和拓展机会，这一机会将进一步促进研究员的学术培训。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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, 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.