NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2016

博士后研究员：Molly C.沃马克提案编号：1611752这一行动资金NSF博士后研究奖学金在生物学2016财年，研究使用生物收藏。该研究金支持研究员的研究和培训计划，以采取变革性方法应对生物学的重大挑战，以高度创新的方式利用生物学收藏。 这个奖学金的研究计划的标题给莫莉C。沃马克是“选择和限制无尾目骨骼的进化”该奖学金的主办机构是加州大学伯克利分校和史密森学会的国家自然历史博物馆，赞助科学家是埃里卡布里罗森布卢姆博士（加州大学伯克利分校）和雷纳贝尔博士（史密森学会）。 这项研究的目的是确定选择压力和进化限制作用于青蛙（无尾类）超过1.6亿年的进化骨骼多样性。 该研究员正在使用X射线显微断层摄影术（micro-CT）检查200属的骨骼，涵盖所有55个青蛙科。使用这个数据集，研究员正在分析特征的共同进化，并提供对无尾类骨骼多样性的全面研究。尽管在自然界中看到的形式的巨大多样性，特定的表型在密切相关和深刻分歧的物种中反复进化（趋同进化）。青蛙表现出猖獗的收敛，并提供了一个特殊的系统，研究的约束和选择压力，决定进化收敛以及形态进化的限制。该研究员正在使用加州大学伯克利分校脊椎动物博物馆和史密森国家自然历史博物馆的藏品来生成一个数据集，以了解趋同进化和进化发展。200具无尾目动物骨骼的3D模型将免费提供给其他研究人员和公众，使未来的研究能够轻松地从博物馆标本中收集形态数据，而不会破坏任何策展标本。除了拟议的研究外，研究员还利用这一广泛的数据集来突出青蛙的物种和分支，为未来研究骨骼特征的进化提供理想的比较。该研究员正在接受微型CT方法和比较系统发生分析方面的培训。该研究员正在与伯克利自然历史博物馆项目和史密森尼Q？rius方案旨在创建和实施课程，向广大受众传达适应和趋同进化等概念。这些课程使用博物馆标本骨架的交互式3D模型，该研究员正在生成，并通过伯克利自然历史博物馆项目和Q？rius网站。该研究员还指导多名本科生研究人员对3D数据的操作和量化以及比较系统发育分析的数据。这些本科生研究人员还可以访问研究员的研究所产生的广泛数据集，用于独立的研究项目。

Postdoctoral Fellow: Molly C. Womack Proposal number: 1611752 This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2016, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow to take transformative approaches to grand challenges in biology that employ biological collections in highly innovative ways. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Molly C. Womack is 'Selection and Constraints on Evolution of the Anuran Skeleton' The host institutions for this fellowship are the University of California-Berkeley and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, and the sponsoring scientists are Dr. Erica Bree Rosenblum (UC-Berkeley) and Dr. Rayna Bell (Smithsonian). The goal of this research is to identify selection pressures and evolutionary limitations acting on the skeleton diversity of frogs (anurans) over 160 million years of evolution. The Fellow is using X-ray microtomography (micro-CT) to examine the skeletons of 200 genera, spanning all 55 families of frogs. Using this dataset, the Fellow is analyzing the co-evolution of traits and providing a comprehensive study of anuran skeleton diversity. Despite the vast diversity of forms seen in nature, particular phenotypes evolve repeatedly across both closely related and deeply divergent species (convergent evolution). Frogs show rampant convergence and provide an exceptional system for researching the constraints and selection pressures that dictate evolutionary convergence as well as the limits of morphological evolution. The Fellow is using collections at the UC-Berkeley Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History to generate a dataset to understand convergent evolution and evolutionary development. The 3D models of 200 anuran skeletons are being made freely available to other researchers and the public, allowing future studies to easily collect morphological data from museum specimens without destruction of any curated specimens. In addition to the proposed research, the Fellow is utilizing this extensive dataset to highlight species and clades of frogs that would provide ideal comparisons for future research investigating the evolution of skeletal traits. The Fellow is receiving training in micro-CT methods and comparative phylogenetic analyses. The Fellow is collaborating with both the Berkeley Natural History Museums Project and the Smithsonian's Q?rius program to create and implement lessons to communicate concepts such as adaptation and convergent evolution to broad audiences. These lessons use interactive 3D models of museum specimen skeletons that the Fellow is generating, and that are being made freely available for teachers and the general public through the Berkeley Natural History Museums Project and Q?rius websites. The Fellow is also mentoring multiple undergraduate researchers on the manipulation and quantification of 3D data as well as data for comparative phylogenetic analyses. These undergraduate researchers also have access to the broad dataset generated by the Fellow's research, for use in independent research projects.