NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY2001

本行动资助美国国家科学基金会2001年度少数民族博士后研究奖学金。该奖学金的目标是为少数族裔科学家在学术界和工业界担任科学领导职位做好准备。为了实现这一目标，该奖学金为最近的博士获得者提供了最高质量的博士后培训机会。这个项目是美国国家科学基金会的一项努力，旨在增加来自代表性不足的少数群体的研究科学家的数量，从而为国家科学事业的未来活力做出贡献。预期通过这些研究金培训的研究员将在培训未来劳动力方面发挥重要作用。这项研究和培训计划的题目是“热带雨林的碎片是否破坏了反植物的共生关系？”副标题是“碎片大小和边缘接近对蚁群建立、生长和防御食草动物的影响”。这项研究调查了雨林破碎化如何影响植物和保护它们免受食草动物侵害的蚂蚁。除了确定抗植物共生群落是否在碎片中减少之外，还使用了一个焦点抗植物系统来实验研究三种可能的机制，通过这些机制可以改变森林碎片中的抗植物共生。实地工作正在巴西进行。

This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY2001. The goal of the fellowship is to prepare minority scientists for positions of scientific leadership in academia and industry. To attain this goal, the fellowship provides opportunities for postdoctoral training of the highest quality to recent doctoral recipients. This program is an effort by the NSF to increase the number of research scientists from underrepresented minority groups, thereby contributing to the future vitality of the Nation's scientific enterprise. It is expected that Fellows trained through these fellowships will play important roles in training of the future workforce.The research and training plan for this fellowship is entitled "Are ant-plant mutualisms disrupted in rainforest fragments?" The subtitle is "Influence of fragment size and edge proximity on ant colony establishment, growth, and defense against herbivores." This research investigates how rain forest fragmentation impacts plants and the ants that defend them from herbivores. In addition to determining if the community of ant-plant mutualists is reduced in fragments, a focal ant-plant system is being used to experimentally investigate three potential mechanisms by which ant-plant mutualisms can be altered in forest fragments. The field work is being carried out in Brazil.