NSF PRFB FY 2023: Investigating environmental and genomic regulation of molt in birds

这一行动为NSF 2023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。这项研究将集中在蜕皮，这是鸟类失去旧羽毛并用新羽毛取而代之的年度过程。蜕皮是鸟类年度周期中的重要事件，因为羽毛会随着时间的推移而磨损。为了满足羽毛生长的高代谢需求，鸟类种群有时会进化到蜕皮，并在资源丰富的地方进行。无论出于何种原因，如果鸟类在换羽期间无法获得足够的资源，它们将长出质量不佳的羽毛，并在接下来的一年增加死亡风险。不幸的是，随着气候变化改变降水模式，鸟类种群可能很快就会面临羽毛生长期和资源可获得性之间的不匹配。在这项研究中，研究人员将评估降雨量的持续变化在多大程度上对蜕皮期间的鸟类种群构成挑战。通过描述蜕皮行为的个体差异和灵活性，以及蜕皮行为随着条件变化而演变的可能性，研究人员将帮助更新北美西部鸟类物种当前的气候变化风险评估，并改进保护策略。此外，这个项目将向全国的社区科学家传播研究蜕皮的重要性的推广材料，并为本科生提供研究机会，从而扩大对科学和观鸟社区的参与。研究人员将首先通过检查发生记录和部署微型跟踪设备，描述范围广泛的雀形目鸟类(Passerina Amoena)蜕皮行为的种内差异。然后，他将把蜕皮地点和物候差异最大的种群中的个体圈养起来，并将它们暴露在可能引发蜕皮的不同环境线索中。在每个圈养个体的蜕皮行为开始后，研究人员将产生转录序列来识别与蜕皮行为相关的基因。通过确定在不同种群中调节蜕皮的环境和基因组机制，研究人员将能够了解蜕皮行为的可塑性以及种群改变蜕皮行为的进化潜力。在这项研究的所有阶段，将有很多机会让来自代表性不足群体的本科生研究人员参与进来。这一奖项反映了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 2023, 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. This research will focus on molt, the annual process by which birds lose their old feathers and replace them with new ones. Molt is an essential event in the bird’s annual cycle because feathers wear down over time. To meet the high metabolic demands of feather growth, bird populations have evolved to molt at times and in locations with abundant resources. If, for whatever reason, birds are unable to access sufficient resources during the molting period, they will grow poor quality feathers and have an elevated risk of mortality in the following year. Unfortunately, bird populations may soon face mismatches between periods of feather growth and resource availability as climate change alters patterns of precipitation. In this study, the researcher will assess the extent to which ongoing changes in precipitation challenge bird populations during molt. By describing individual variation and flexibility in molting behavior and the potential for molting behavior to evolve in response to changing conditions, the researcher will help update current climate change risk assessments for bird species in western North America and improve conservation strategies. Additionally, this project will generate outreach materials communicating the importance of studying molt to community scientists across the country and provide research opportunities for undergraduate students, thereby broadening participation in the scientific and birding communities.The researcher will first describe intraspecific variation in molting behavior in a wide-ranging passerine species, the Lazuli Bunting (Passerina amoena), by examining occurrence records and deploying miniature tracking devices. He will then take individuals from populations with the most divergent molting locations and phenologies into captivity and expose them to different environmental cues that could trigger molt. Following the onset of molting behavior in each captive individual, the researcher will then generate transcriptomic sequences to identify loci associated with molting behavior. By determining the environmental and genomic mechanisms that regulate molt in different populations, the researcher will be able to understand plasticity in molting behavior and the evolutionary potential for populations to shift molting behavior. In all stages of this research, there will be many opportunities to involve undergraduate researchers from underrepresented groups.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.