NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Untangling the roles of genetic and regulatory mechanisms in adaptive evolutionary responses to climate change

这一行动为NSF 2021财年生物学博士后研究奖学金提供了资金，综合研究调查了支配基因组、环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则。该奖学金支持研究员的研究和培训，这些研究员将以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。气候变化是对地球上许多生命形式的重大威胁。对于已经适应了沙漠等极端环境的物种来说，情况尤其如此。不同物种在未来气候条件下持续适应的途径尚不清楚。这项研究将在美国西南部三种适应沙漠的鸟类身上调查这些途径及其相关的适应性权衡。该项目将通过量化物种在未来气候条件下生存的可能性，深入了解生物体对气候变暖的适应性进化反应所涉及的机制，并改善保护工作。该研究员将与当地部落学院和大学合作，支持学生指导的研究，并实施指导倡议，以提高在STEM学科中代表性不足的学生的成功。这项研究将使用一系列先进的生物信息学测序方法，量化在沙漠适应鸟类对气候变化的进化反应中涉及的基因组、调控和表观遗传路径的变异。这位研究员将使用加热的巢箱实验来比较物种在发育过程中对温度升高的反应所涉及的生理路径和适应性权衡。通过比较来自加热和非加热巢箱的幼虫的基因表达、表观遗传学特征、身体发育和健康状况，这位研究员将检验这一假设，即物种历史上的丰富趋势与它们对温度升高的生理反应的有效性有关。了解生活史特征、适应反应途径和相关适应后果之间的联系，将填补与生物体在极端环境中快速应对变暖温度的进化能力相关的关键知识空白。该研究员将接受各种先进的基因组测序技术和统计方法的培训，并在地区部落学院和大学指导学生主导的研究。最后，该研究员将制定和实施同伴指导计划，重点是促进知识转移和增加科学界未被充分代表的群体的成功。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 2021, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the Fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Climate change represents a major threat to many forms of life on Earth. This is especially true for species already adapted to live in extreme environments like deserts. The pathways through which different species will adapt to persist under future climate conditions remain unknown. This research will investigate these pathways and their associated fitness tradeoffs in three species of desert-adapted birds in the southwestern United States. This project will provide insights into the mechanisms involved in organisms’ adaptive evolutionary responses to a warming climate and improve conservation efforts by quantifying the likelihood for species to persist under future climate conditions. The Fellow will partner with local Tribal Colleges and Universities to support student-directed research and implement mentoring initiatives to increase success of students underrepresented in STEM disciplines.This research will use an array of advanced bioinformatic sequencing methods to quantify variation in the genomic, regulatory, and epigenetic pathways involved in the evolutionary responses of desert-adapted birds to climate change. The Fellow will use a heated nest box experiment to compare the physiological pathways and fitness tradeoffs involved in species’ responses to increased temperature during development. By comparing gene expression, epigenetic profiles, physical development, and fitness of juveniles from heated and unheated nest boxes, the Fellow will test the hypothesis that species’ historical abundance trends are associated with the effectiveness of their physiological responses to warmer temperatures. Understanding the associations between life history traits, adaptive response pathways, and the associated fitness consequences will fill critical knowledge gaps related to the evolutionary capacity of organisms to respond to rapidly warming temperatures in extreme environments. The Fellow will receive training in a variety of advanced genomic sequencing techniques and statistical methods as well as mentoring student-led research at area Tribal Colleges and Universities. Finally, the Fellow will develop and implement peer-mentoring programs focused on facilitating knowledge transfer and increasing the success of underrepresented groups in the sciences.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.