NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology for FY 2011

这一行动为2011财年NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金提供了资金，扩大了参与范围。该奖学金支持在东道主实验室为该研究员制定的研究和培训计划，该研究员还提出了扩大生物学参与度的计划。鲁道夫·冯·梅的这项研究和培训计划的标题是《高海拔安第斯青蛙的栖息地变化和生理学》。该奖学金的主办机构是加州大学伯克利分校，赞助科学家是克雷格·莫里茨博士。在快速变化的世界中，许多物种面临着本土栖息地的缩小、新栖息地的扩大和新奇的气候条件。热带山地地区特别令人关注，因为它们是独特的生物多样性中心。虽然建模和预测山地生物与栖息地相关的活动范围转移已经得到了很大的关注，特别是在气候变化的背景下，但对栖息地变化的潜在进化因素和反应机制仍然知之甚少。这项研究正在加深我们对安第斯青蛙进化史的理解，并解释栖息地的重大变化如何也受到相关类群的生理属性和分布的影响。它绘制了地面繁殖的青蛙在不同海拔的森林和开阔栖息地的分布，使用由分子遗传数据构建的现有系统发育图追踪栖息地的偏好。正在收集有关姐妹类群对的耐热性、干燥性和运动性等生理特征的经验数据，用于物种分布建模，以深入了解当前和过去的物种分布，并改进对未来分布的预测。培训目标包括分子系统学、系统地理学、生理学和物种分布模型。更广泛的影响包括对来自美国的少数族裔学生、拉丁美洲的学生进行能力建设和高级培训，以及一项促进有关当地和热带生物多样性的生态素养的外联计划。外联活动的重点是与当地教师发展科学教育伙伴关系。教学选项包括为美国和秘鲁大学的本科生开设热带生态学与进化的短期课程。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2011, Broadening Participation. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Rudolf von May is "Habitat shifts and physiology of high-elevation Andean frogs." The host institution for the fellowship is the University of California, Berkeley and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Craig Moritz.In a rapidly changing world, many species are faced with shrinking native habitat, expanding new habitats, and novel climatic conditions. Tropical montane regions are of special concern because they are centers of unique biodiversity. While much attention has been given to modeling and predicting habitat-related range shifts in montane organisms, especially in the context of climate change, the underlying evolutionary factors and mechanisms of response to habitat change remain poorly understood. This research is improving our understanding of the evolutionary history of Andean frogs and explaining how major shifts in habitat are also influenced by physiological attributes and distributions of related taxa. It maps the distributions of ground-breeding frogs within forested and open habitats across elevations, tracing habitat preferences using an existing phylogeny constructed with molecular genetic data. Empirical data on physiological characteristics including thermal tolerance, desiccation tolerance, and locomotion of sister taxa pairs are being collected for species distribution modeling to gain insights of current and past species distributions and to improve predictions on future distributions. Training objectives include molecular systematics, phylogeography, physiology, and species distribution modeling. Broader impacts include capacity-building and advanced training for minority students from the United States, students in Latin America, and an outreach program to promote ecological literacy about local and tropical biodiversity. Outreach focuses on developing a science education partnership with local teachers. The teaching option includes a short course on tropical ecology and evolution for undergraduate students from universities in the US and Peru.