NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Modeling the singular and additive effects of various anthropogenic disturbances using genomics

这项行动资助了2020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。物种通常同时受到多种人为压力的影响。然而，解开这些人为压力源的单一和叠加效应仍然具有挑战性。该研究员将使用一种称为景观基因组学的技术，该技术允许您识别环境和生物遗传学之间的关系，以建立一个模型来了解人类引起的环境变化（城市化，气候变化）对波多黎各的淡水龟，波多黎各滑龟的影响。该物种受到城市化导致的栖息地丧失和入侵物种红耳滑块的传播的影响。此外，该研究员将促进社区在各级的参与。首先，该研究员将与波多黎各科学教育工作者合作，促进iNaturalist的使用，这是一款用于发现、识别和报告当地生物多样性的应用程序。第二，该研究员将协助在纽约赞助机构附近为人数不足的高中学生提供分子实验室技术培训。第三，该研究员将通过为该奖学金创建的名为Jicoteando的Facebook群组以及各种口头演讲，帮助学生与研究生课程、奖学金和职业机会建立联系。 这项研究将需要应用人口基因组学、空间分析和生态研究。因此，该研究员将接受许多新技能和跨学科工作方面的培训。景观基因组学模型将测试生物和非生物因素对物种功能遗传连接性的单一和加性贡献。为了实现这一目标，该研究员将首先对基因组DNA进行测序，然后对整个研究区域的相关景观和生态协变量进行采样。协变量然后将被转换成阻力表面表征其渗透性或抵抗遗传变异的运动。该转换将用于对比测量协变量产生的奇异和相加电阻。该研究员将与保护机构建立重要的合作关系，目标是根据景观特征和杂交的影响为物种编写管理计划。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2020, 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. Species are often affected by multiple human-created stressors simultaneously. However, disentangling the singular and additive effects of these human made stressors remains challenging. The fellow will use a technique called landscape genomics, which allows you to identify relationships between the environment and genetics of organisms, to build a model to understand the effect of human induced environmental change (urbanization, climate change) on a freshwater turtle, the Puerto Rican Slider, in Puerto Rico. This species is impacted by both habitat loss to urbanization and the spread of an invasive species, the red eared slider. Additionally, the fellow will facilitate community engagement at various levels. Firstly, the fellow will work with Puerto Rican science educators to facilitate the use of iNaturalist, which is an app used to discover, identify and report local biodiversity. Secondly, the fellow will facilitate training in molecular laboratory techniques for underrepresented high school students near the sponsoring institution in New York. Thirdly, the fellow will help connect students to graduate programs, fellowships, and professional opportunities through a Facebook group called Jicoteando created for this fellowship and also via various oral presentations. This research will require the application of population genomics, spatial analyses, and ecological studies. Thus, the fellow will be provided training in many new skills and in interdisciplinary work. The landscape genomics models will test the singular and additive contributions of biotic and abiotic factors in relation to the species’ functional genetic connectivity. To accomplish this, the fellow will first sequence genomic DNA and then sample relevant landscape and ecological covariates across the study area. Covariates will then be transformed into resistance surfaces characterizing their permeability or resistance to the movement of genetic variation. This transformation will be used to contrast singular and additive resistances arising from the measured covariates. The fellow will build important collaborations with conservation agencies with the goal of writing a management plan for the species informed by the impacts of landscape features and hybridization. The fellow will also gain outreach experience working with students at various career stages.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.