NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2017: THE ROLE OF THE NORTH AMERICAN MONSOON IN THE ANNUAL MOLT OF MIGRATORY BIRDS

这是NSF在FY生物学方面的博士后研究奖学金，项目是使用生物收藏进行研究。该奖学金支持将以创新方式利用生物收藏的研究员的研究和培训。这项研究将研究候鸟如何利用季节性降雨事件--北美季风(NAM)--作为年度羽毛替代的资源。许多在北美西部繁殖的鸟类将这种季风作为更换羽毛的区域，但这些鸟类来自哪里，它们对季风雨的依赖程度尚不清楚。更换羽毛对鸟类来说很重要，所有的鸟类每年至少更换一次羽毛。候鸟一年四季都面临着繁殖、换羽和为迁徙提供燃料的挑战。对这些鸟类的繁殖和迁徙进行了很好的研究，但对蜕皮的研究很少。此外，气候变化正在影响季风的时间和强度，目前还没有数据可以说明这将如何影响利用季风进行羽毛蜕皮的鸟类，这项研究将结合对鸟类基因组的分析和该地区独特的标本收集来评估鸟类如何利用季风进行羽毛蜕皮。为了了解不同的种群是如何使用这一策略的，该研究员将通过构建13种已知遵循这种蜕皮迁移策略的鸟类繁殖种群的基因组DNA的参考数据库，然后对NAM区域中正在蜕皮的鸟类的DNA进行测序，来建立使用该区域进行蜕皮的鸟类的迁徙连通性。这些数据将使研究员了解使用这种蜕皮迁徙策略的繁殖种群的相对比例。这位研究员还将通过对来自西方学院遗产收藏的跨越80年的时间序列中的两种常见蜕皮候鸟进行这种迁徙连接性分析，来研究NAM如何影响蜕皮物候和蜕皮时间和位置的可塑性。西方学院拥有世界上最大的墨西哥鸟类收集地，并积极开发和利用超辐射元素(UCES)进行系统发育和种群推断；是进行这项研究的理想环境。该研究员将接受标本准备和DNA提取的现场和实验室技术培训，以及指导和出版技能，以及标本馆藏和数据分析。

This is an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY, under the program Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will utilize biological collections in innovative ways. The research will study how migratory birds use a seasonal rainfall event, the North American Monsoon (NAM), for resources in their annual feather replacement. Many species of birds that breed in Western North America use this monsoon as a region to replace their feathers, but where these birds come from, and how dependent they are on these monsoonal rains, is not well understood. Replacing feathers is important for birds, and all birds replace their feathers at least once a year. Migratory birds face the challenge of breeding, molting, and fueling for migration throughout the year. Breeding and migration have been well studied in these birds, but little research has been dedicated to molt. Furthermore, climate change is affecting the timing and intensity of the monsoon, and there is currently no data that can inform how this will affect the birds that use the monsoon for feather molt, and this study will combine analysis of the genomes of birds with a unique collection of specimens from this region to assess how birds use the monsoon for feather molt. To understand how various populations employ this strategy, the fellow will establish the migratory connectivity of birds using this region to molt by constructing a reference database of genomic DNA from breeding populations of 13 species of birds that are known to follow this molt migration strategy, then sequencing DNA from molting birds in the NAM region. These data will allow the fellow to understand the relative proportions of breeding populations using this molt-migration strategy. The fellow will also investigate how the NAM has influenced molt phenology and plasticity of molt timing and location by conducting this migratory connectivity analysis in two species of common molt-migrants across a time series spanning 80 years from a heritage collection at Occidental College. Occidental College houses the largest collection of birds from Mexico in the world, and is active in development and use of ultraconserved elements (UCEs) for phylogenetic and population inference; and is the ideal setting for this research. The fellow will be trained in field and laboratory techniques in specimen preparation and DNA extraction, as well as mentoring and publication skills, and specimen curatorial and data analysis.