NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Linking Mammalian Omnivore Ecological Traits to Biogeography and Morphology

研究员姓名：Dana reuter提案号：2209402研究标题：美国国家科学基金会生物学博士后奖学金：将哺乳动物杂食性生态性状与生物地理学和形态学联系起来赞助科学家和主办机构：Robert Guralnick博士，佛罗里达自然历史博物馆；米歇尔·劳因博士，德克萨斯农工大学。该行动资助2021财年NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，研究基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该奖学金支持将以创新方式对生活规则领域作出贡献的研究员的研究和培训。生态学的主要目标之一是了解物种如何对环境变化做出反应的规则，特别是整个群落对资源转移的反应。很大一部分哺乳动物是杂食动物（也就是说，它们既吃植物性食物，也吃动物性食物），但我们不知道杂食性饮食特征、关键的身体特征（如下巴形状）和环境之间的联系。这种知识的缺乏也阻碍了古生物学家在化石记录中重建杂食性饮食，最终限制了对生物创新背后的长期过程的更全面理解。该项目旨在更好地了解杂食性饮食与颌骨和牙齿形状之间的联系，以及饮食和形状如何在社区和景观中形成。这个项目的结果将有助于未来估计哺乳动物和群落将如何应对环境变化。本项目主要有两个目标：1)通过评估北美杂食性哺乳动物的物种丰富度、系统发育多样性和功能多样性来表征杂食性生物地理学；2)确定杂食性哺乳动物消耗不同食物材料的形态适应性。这些目标将通过首先开发一个新的北美哺乳动物饮食数据库来实现，该数据库侧重于杂食动物饮食变化和主要数据源的元数据。该项目将使用新开发的饮食数据库、物种范围图、植被指数和先前发表的哺乳动物系统发育树来测试杂食动物的饮食类型和体重是否限制了杂食动物在某些栖息地或地区的活动。此外，PI将收集哺乳动物颌骨的3D扫描，并使用机器学习方法来测试不同饮食的杂食动物的颌骨形态和牙齿拓扑结构是否以可预测的方式变化。该研究员将接受生物信息学和数据库开发、系统发育比较方法和生态形态学数据收集技术方面的培训。该研究员还将指导本科生使用生物收藏品，并通过参与K-12教室和自然历史博物馆的外展活动和视频，让更广泛的公众参与生物探究。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。

Fellow's name: Dana ReuterProposal number: 2209402Research title: NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Linking Mammalian Omnivore Ecological Traits to Biogeography and MorphologySponsoring scientist(s) and host institution(s): Dr. Robert Guralnick, Florida Museum of Natural History; Dr. A. Michelle Lawing, Texas A&M University.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. One of the main goals of ecology is to understand the rules that underly how species respond to environmental change, and specifically whole community response to resource shifts. A large proportion of mammals are omnivores (that is, they eat both plant and animal-based foods), but we do not know linkage between omnivorous dietary traits, key physical traits such as jaw shape, and the environment. This lack of knowledge also prevents paleontologists from reconstructing omnivorous diets in the fossil record, ultimately limiting more complete understanding of long-term processes underlying biological innovation. This project aims to better understand linkages between omnivorous diets and jaw and dental shape and how diet and shape are structured across communities and landscapes. The results of this project will help inform future estimates of how mammals and communities will respond to environmental changes.This project has two main objectives: 1) Characterize omnivore biogeography by assessing species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and functional diversity in mammalian omnivores on the North American landscape; 2) Determine morphological adaptations tied to consuming different food materials in omnivorous mammals. These objectives will be accomplished by first developing a new database of North American mammalian diets that focuses on omnivore diet variation and the metadata of the primary data sources. The PI will use the newly developed diet database, species range maps, vegetation indexes, and previously published mammalian phylogenetic trees to test whether omnivore diet type and body mass limits omnivores to certain habitats or regions. Additionally, the PI will collect 3D scans of mammalian jaws and use machine learning approaches to test whether jaw morphology and dental topology vary in predictable ways among omnivores with differing diets. The fellow will receive training in bioinformatics and database development, phylogenetic comparative methods, and ecomorphological data collection techniques. The fellow will also mentor undergraduate students using biological collections and engage the broader public in biological inquiry through involvement in K-12 classrooms and outreach events and videos at Natural History Museums.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.