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

这项行动资助了2023财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，综合研究调查了基因组，环境和表型之间的生命管理相互作用的规则。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。这项研究将集中在换羽上，换羽是鸟类失去旧羽毛并换上新羽毛的年度过程。换羽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，鸟类种群已经进化到在资源丰富的时间和地点换羽。如果由于某种原因，鸟类在蜕皮期间无法获得足够的资源，它们将长出质量差的羽毛，并在下一年增加死亡的风险。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用性之间的不匹配。在这项研究中，研究人员将评估在多大程度上持续变化的降水挑战鸟类种群在换羽。通过描述蜕皮行为的个体差异和灵活性以及蜕皮行为随条件变化而演变的潜力，研究人员将帮助更新北美西部鸟类目前的气候变化风险评估，并改善保护策略。此外，该项目还将制作宣传材料，向全国各地的社区科学家宣传研究换羽的重要性，并为本科生提供研究机会，从而扩大科学和观鸟社区的参与。研究人员将首先描述广泛分布的雀形目物种--青斑彩凤的换羽行为的种内变异（Passerina amoena），通过检查发生记录和部署微型跟踪设备。然后，他将从具有最不同的蜕皮地点和物候的种群中挑选个体进行圈养，并将它们暴露在可能引发蜕皮的不同环境线索中。在每个圈养个体开始蜕皮行为后，研究人员将生成转录组序列以识别与蜕皮行为相关的基因座。通过确定调节不同种群蜕皮的环境和基因组机制，研究人员将能够理解蜕皮行为的可塑性和种群改变蜕皮行为的进化潜力。在这项研究的所有阶段，将有很多机会涉及来自代表性不足的群体的本科研究人员。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已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 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.