NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2016

博士后：Matthew R. borth提案号1612062本行动资助2016财年美国国家科学基金会生物学博士后研究奖学金，利用生物学收藏品进行跨学科研究。该奖学金支持一项研究和培训计划，使奖学金获得者从事利用生物收集的研究和培训。马修·博思的这项研究计划的题目是“现代非洲生态系统出现时哺乳动物食肉动物的多样性、替代和灭绝”。这项奖学金的主办机构是俄亥俄大学，赞助科学家是南希·史蒂文斯。该项目研究了2300万年前非洲大陆与欧亚大陆碰撞后非洲食物网的变化。当大陆碰撞发生时，非洲的原生动物传播到亚洲、欧洲和美洲的生态系统中，而这些北部大陆的原生动物则传播到南部的非洲生态系统中。在碰撞之前，非洲食物链的顶端被hyaeendonta（一种现已灭绝的哺乳动物）的捕食者占据。在碰撞之后，现代猫、狗和猫鼬的近亲入侵了非洲，并开始与鬣狗一起占据食肉动物的生态位。大约在800万年前，鬣狗，这个曾经种类繁多、占统治地位的食肉动物，灭绝了。这位研究员正在研究非洲历史上这一关键时期，当时来自不同大陆的食肉动物相互相遇，建立一个自然实验，有助于理解食物链顶端的变化如何影响生态系统。为了实现这一目标，这位研究员正在使用一些生物标本来分析非洲食肉动物种群的变化，并建立了在非洲以外的食肉动物入侵之前和之后，曾经占主导地位的鬣狗食肉动物所占据的生态位模型。在坦桑尼亚的Rukwa裂谷盆地和肯尼亚的Meswa桥收集的新发现的舌石材料正在被描述，以更好地了解在这种生态转变期间舌石的全部多样性。今天，食肉动物在稳定生态系统和支持生物多样性方面发挥着重要作用。但是，在世界范围内，食肉动物正在现代生态系统中迅速消失。通过这个项目的发现将为决策者提供一个深刻的时间视角，他们必须面对北美和世界各地哺乳动物食肉动物多样性和种群数量的迅速减少。该研究员正在接受古生物学方法和生态位建模方面的培训。他还指导从科学界代表性不足的群体中招募的本科生研究人员，包括俄亥俄大学的阿巴拉契亚学者项目。这位研究员正在通过他参与创建的“过去时光”项目，将他的研究成果提供给更广泛的非专业受众，该项目使用博客、播客和虚拟的古生物实验室实地考察来说明古生物学的科学过程。该研究员还与赞助商史蒂文斯合作，为俄亥俄大学的自然历史和环境博物馆创建在线和实体展览，该博物馆将以该项目的部分内容为特色。对于俄亥俄州阿巴拉契亚地区和西弗吉尼亚州的许多K-12学生来说，这个博物馆将是离他们最近的自然历史展览空间。

Postdoctoral Fellow: Matthew R. BorthsProposal Number 1612062This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2016, Interdisciplinary Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow to engage in research and training that utilizes biological collections. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Matthew Borths is "Mammalian carnivore diversity, replacement, and extinction when the modern African ecosystem emerged." The host institution for this fellowship is Ohio University, and the sponsoring scientist is Nancy Stevens.This project examines changes in African food webs after the continent of Africa collided with Eurasia twenty-three million years ago. When this continental collision occurred, animals native to Africa spread into Asian, European, and American ecosystems while animals native to these northern continents spread south into African ecosystems. Before the collision, the top of the African food chain was occupied by predators from Hyaenodonta, a group of mammals that are now extinct. After the collision, relatives of modern cats, dogs, and mongooses invaded Africa and started to occupy carnivore niches alongside hyaenodonts. By about eight million years ago, the hyaenodonts, once a diverse and dominant group of carnivores, were extinct. The Fellow is examining this crucial time period in African history, when carnivores from different continents encountered one another, establishing a natural experiment that will facilitate understanding how changes at the top of the food chain affect the ecosystem. To accomplish this goal, the Fellow is using several biological collections to analyze changes in African carnivore assemblages, and developing models of the niches occupied by the once-dominant hyaenodont carnivores before and after the invasion of carnivores from outside Africa. Newly discovered hyaenodont material collected in the Rukwa Rift Basin of Tanzania and Meswa Bridge in Kenya is being described to better understand the full diversity of hyaenodonts during this ecological transition. Today, carnivores play a significant role in stabilizing their ecosystems and supporting biodiversity. But, around the world, carnivores are rapidly being lost in modern ecosystems. The discoveries made through this project will provide a deep time perspective to policymakers who must confront the rapid decrease in mammalian carnivore diversity and populations in North America and around the world. The Fellow is receiving training in paleobiological methods and niche modeling. He is also mentoring undergraduate researchers recruited from underrepresented groups in science, including the Appalachian Scholars program at Ohio University. The Fellow is making his results accessible to a wider, non-specialized audience through Past Time, a project he co-created and that uses blogging, podcasts, and virtual fieldtrips to paleontology labs to illustrate the scientific process through paleontology. The Fellow is also collaborating with sponsor Stevens to create online and physical exhibits for a natural history and environment museum at Ohio University, which will feature portions of this project. For many K-12 students in Appalachian Ohio and West Virginia, this museum will be the closest natural history exhibit space.