NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Color polymorphism: a model system for predicting phenotypic evolution in nature

2021 财年 NSF 生物学博士后奖学金：颜色多态性：预测自然界表型进化的模型系统

• 批准号: 2109710
• 负责人: Kinsey Brock
• 金额: $ 20.7万
• 依托单位: Brock, Kinsey M
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-07-01 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2109710&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; FY

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 is expected to generate extreme environmental conditions, and our ability to predict the way organisms will respond to projected environmental change is critically important for the future. In nature, thousands of species have evolved color polymorphism. That is where multiple distinct color morphs, that also differ genetically and behaviorally, coexist within the same species. Color polymorphic species are an ideal system to develop predictive power in biology because often color morphs of the same species are associated with different aspects of the environment. The aim of this project is to identify repeatable associations between lizard color morph traits, genetics, and specific environmental variables that are expected to change with climate change (temperature, air moisture, precipitation, etc.) to develop predictions about how animals will evolve and adapt to changing environments. The fellow will use the Aegean wall lizard, which has three color morphs: orange, yellow, and white, that differ by environment to study how color morph genetics and environmental change variables interact to produce different color morphs in different environments. The fellow will engage undergraduates underrepresented in the sciences in research as lab and field assistants. This project will also include an international outreach component that will communicate basic principles of evolution to elementary school children in the San Francisco Bay Area, United States and Athens, Greece with art-based activities.This research will use genetically determined color morphs of the Aegean wall lizard to identify gene-phenotype-environment interactions that have naturally produced repeated evolution of the same morph phenotypes in similar environments. This research will use color polymorphism as a model system to test for: predictable associations between intraspecific morph diversity and environmental variation, the evolution of repeated morph phenotype-environment associations in isolated populations, and correlated macroevolution of morph phenotypes and environmental variation across many color polymorphic species. The fellow will train in integrative approaches that combines adaptive landscape theory, genomics, computation, fieldwork, and experiments to identify predictable patterns of phenotypic evolution from complex interactions across biological scales. The fellow will engage undergraduates from underrepresented groups in research and science outreach activities with local and international elementary classrooms.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.

该行动资助了2021财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，即调查基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该研究金支持研究员的研究和培训，以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。气候变化预计将产生极端的环境条件，我们预测生物体对预计环境变化的反应方式的能力对未来至关重要。在自然界中，成千上万的物种已经进化出颜色多态性。这就是多个不同的颜色变体，也不同的遗传和行为，在同一物种内共存。颜色多态物种是一个理想的系统，以发展预测能力的生物学，因为往往颜色变体的同一物种与不同方面的环境。该项目的目的是确定蜥蜴颜色形态特征，遗传学和特定环境变量之间的可重复关联，这些变量预计会随着气候变化而变化（温度，空气湿度，降水量等）。预测动物如何进化和适应不断变化的环境。这位研究员将使用爱琴海墙蜥蜴，它有三种颜色变体：橙子，黄色和白色，这些颜色变体因环境而异，以研究颜色变体遗传学和环境变化变量如何相互作用，在不同的环境中产生不同的颜色变体。该研究员将从事本科生在科学研究中作为实验室和现场助理代表不足。该项目还将包括一个国际推广部分，向美国旧金山弗朗西斯科湾区和雅典的小学生传播进化论的基本原则，这项研究将使用爱琴海墙蜥蜴的遗传决定的颜色变体来识别基因-表型-在相似的环境中自然产生相同形态表型的重复进化的环境相互作用。本研究将使用颜色多态性作为一个模型系统来测试：种内形态多样性和环境变化之间的可预测的关联，重复形态表型与环境的关联在孤立的人群中的演变，以及相关的宏观演变的形态表型和环境变化在许多颜色多态物种。该研究员将接受综合方法的培训，该方法将适应性景观理论，基因组学，计算，实地考察和实验相结合，以确定跨生物尺度复杂相互作用的表型进化的可预测模式。该研究员将吸引来自代表性不足群体的本科生参与当地和国际小学课堂的研究和科学推广活动。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为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来支持。