Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Microbial Biology for FY 2002

这一行动为2002财政年度NSF微生物生物学博士后奖学金提供资金。 该研究金支持关于原生动物、微藻、真菌、古菌、细菌和病毒物种的基础生物学的培训和研究，这些物种通常不被视为模式生物。此外，它为最近的博士生提供了机会，以获得微生物生物学方面的额外培训，在既定科学家的赞助下获得研究经验，并拓宽他/她的科学视野，超越本科和研究生培训期间的研究经验。这些奖学金还旨在帮助新科学家指导他们的研究工作，跨越传统学科，并利用独特的研究资源，地点和设施，包括外国地点。研究和培训计划的标题是“草的真菌内共生体是否构成群落多样性并改变食物网动态？“内生真菌与草形成共生关系，产生有毒的生物碱，减少对宿主的植食性。 本研究评估了草内生菌如何改变植物，病原体和节肢动物组合的多样性和动态，并询问真菌生物碱化学如何影响这些效果。 这项调查将扩大我们对植物-微生物互惠作用如何影响群落动态和生物多样性的理解。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Microbial Biology for FY2002. The fellowship supports training and research on the basic biology of protozoan, microalgal, fungal, archaeal, bacterial and viral species that are not generally considered to be model organisms. Further, it provides opportunities for a recent doctoral recipients to obtain additional training in microbial biology, to gain research experience under the sponsorship of established scientists, and to broaden his/her scientific horizons beyond the research experiences during the undergraduate and graduate training. These fellowships are further designed to assist new scientists to direct their research efforts across traditional disciplinary lines and to avail themselves of unique research resources, sites, and facilities, including foreign locations. The research and training plan is entitled "Do fungal endosymbionts of grasses structure community diversity and modify food web dynamics?" Endophytic fungi form symbioses with grasses and produce toxic alkaloids that reduce herbivory to their hosts. This research evaluates how grass endophytes modify the diversity and dynamics of plant, pathogen, and arthropod assemblages and asks how fungal alkaloid chemistry influences these effects. This investigation will expand our understanding of how plant-microbe mutualisms influence community dynamics and biodiversity.