NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2013

欧阳珍妮博士的博士后研究奖学金由美国国家科学基金会生物科学理事会和国际科学与工程办公室共同支持。在为期24个月的研究期间，欧阳博士将在荷兰瓦赫宁根的荷兰生态研究所（nio - knaw）的Marcel Visser教授的赞助下，从事一个名为“失去夜晚：人工照明下生活的生理成本”的项目。该奖项为美国科学家提供了一个与外国科学家合作的独特机会，并利用国外独特的设施、专业知识和实验条件。数百万年来，动物和植物都是在自然的、每日的光/暗循环下进化的。在地球的大部分地区，特别是工业化和人口密集地区，夜间的黑暗越来越多地被人工照明所取代，这些循环被打乱了。夜间照明不仅仅影响城市，因为非自然光延伸到周围的森林和自然水道。人工照明对群落生态、种群数量、个体行为和适应性的巨大影响才刚刚开始被探索。然而，自由生物潜在生理变化的范围和程度仍不清楚。该项目将利用一个现有的、世界范围内独一无二的野外站点网络，在夜间用红、绿、白光人工照明，以测试夜间照明对个体应激生理学、免疫学、生殖输出和随后的生存的影响，使用一种经过充分研究的欧洲鸣禽——大山雀（Parus major）。研究人员将追踪光照和黑暗控制区的个体活动模式差异，然后测试应激水平和免疫功能的治疗差异，最后监测健康状况。实地研究将与实验室研究相结合，在光照治疗之前、期间和之后追踪个体的内分泌和免疫功能，以充分测试夜间光照对个体生理的影响。夜间黑暗减少的影响可以通过改变照明光谱来减轻；因此，本研究结果对城市规划和生态系统功能具有指导意义。最终，这些发现将对实施与自然光周期干扰相关的大规模生态破坏进行斗争的计划至关重要。该项目将推进我们目前对昼夜节律机制调节的理解，测试光在自然区域的环保应用，并为全球范围内的管理实践提供具体证据。在一个越来越“失去黑夜”的世界里，获取的信息变得至关重要。

This Postdoctoral Research Fellowship award to Dr. Jenny Ouyang is supported by both the Directorate for Biological Sciences and the Office of International Science and Engineering at the National Science Foundation. During the 24-month fellowship, Dr. Ouyang will work on a project titled, "Loss of night: physiological costs of living under artificial lighting" under the sponsorship of Professor Marcel Visser at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) in Wageningen, the Netherlands. This award provides a unique opportunity for a US scientist to collaborate with foreign scientists, and utilize the unique facilities, expertise and experimental conditions available abroad. Animals and plants have evolved under a natural, daily light/dark cycle for millions of years. These cycles have been disturbed as nighttime darkness is increasingly replaced by artificial illumination on a large part of the planet, especially in industrialized and densely populated areas. Nocturnal illumination does not simply affect cities, as unnatural light stretches well into surrounding forests and natural waterways. The dramatic effects of artificial lighting on community ecology, population numbers, and individual behavior and fitness are just beginning to be explored. However, the range and degree of potential physiological change in free-living organisms remain unclear. The project will make use of an existing, worldwide unique network of field sites that are artificially illuminated at night with red, green, and white light to test the effects of nocturnal lighting on individual stress physiology, immunology, reproductive output, and subsequent survival using a well-studied European songbird, the great tit (Parus major). Differences in individual activity patterns between the illuminated and the dark control field sites will be tracked, then tested for treatment differences in stress levels and immune function, and finally monitored for fitness. The field study will be integrated with a laboratory study that will trace an individual's endocrine and immunological function before, during, and after light treatments to fully test the effects of nighttime light on individual physiology. The effects of decreased nighttime darkness may be alleviated by a modified spectrum of lighting; therefore, the results of this study have implications for urban planning and ecosystem function. Ultimately, the findings will be crucial to implementing plans to combat large-scale ecological disruptions associated with disturbances to the natural light cycle. This project will advance our current understanding of the mechanistic regulation of circadian rhythms, test an environmentally friendly application of light in natural areas, and provide concrete evidence for management practices at a global scale. The information acquired is becoming essential in a world that is increasingly experiencing a "loss of night."