NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2018

这一行动为2018财年NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金提供资金，扩大了生物学领域代表性不足群体的参与。该奖学金支持一项针对该研究员的研究和培训计划，该计划将增加生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。了解允许物种在各种环境中生存的环境因素是生态学家的一个重要目标。从这些工作中获得的知识可以用来解释生物多样性的模式，预测物种将如何应对不断变化的环境，并使社会能够做出关于保护和管理的明智决定。温度是决定外温动物生活方方面面的一个普遍因素，也就是说，动物不能产生自己的身体热量。例如，一只昆虫生活在树荫下的树叶下，与周围的空气相比，它的温度可能要低得多。这种微尺度的温度是如何从一片树叶变化到另一片树叶？它是如何影响昆虫的生长和生存的？它如何影响昆虫与其他昆虫之间的相互作用？这些问题将通过挖叶者、生活在白杨树叶中的小飞蛾以及它们的黄蜂捕食者来回答。回答这些问题需要大量的团队努力，使这样一个项目成为向学生传授科学方法的理想项目。这位研究员将利用这个机会向来自代表性不足社区的本科生，特别是美国原住民学生传授如何进行科学实验，收集数据，解释并分享结果。为了了解采叶工的热环境，这位研究员和她的团队将首先使用热电偶收集位于杨树不同部位的数百片树叶的温度数据。然后，为了记录哪些温度对矿工来说是最佳的，这位研究员和她的团队将使用增长率构建热性能曲线。最后，该团队将通过在实验场中通过实验操纵温度来研究黄蜂和矿工之间的互动是如何改变的。这些实验旨在测试关于树叶温度如何影响挖叶者以及它可能如何改变捕食者-猎物相互作用的多个假说。这位研究员还将教授土著中学生如何使用基本的生物监测技术和昆虫来评估平头印第安人保护区周围溪流的健康状况。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2018,Broadening Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. Understanding the environmental factors that allow species to survive in various environments is an important goal of ecologists. Knowledge gained from such work can be used to explain patterns of biodiversity, predict how species will respond to changing environments, and enable society to make informed decisions about conservation and management. Temperature is a prevalent factor that determines aspects of life for ectotherms, i.e., animals that cannot produce their own body heat. For example, an insect living underneath a leaf in a shady tree may experience temperatures that are much cooler compared to the surrounding air. How does this "micro-scale" temperature change from leaf to leaf? How does it affect the growth and survival of the insect? How does it affect the interactions between the insect and others? These questions will be answered using leaf miners, small moths that live inside aspen leaves, and their wasp predators. Answering these questions requires a large team effort, making such a project ideal for teaching scientific methods to students. The Fellow will use this opportunity to teach undergraduates from underrepresented communities, especially Native American students, how to conduct a scientific experiment, collect data, and interpret and share results.To understand the thermal environment of leaf miners, the Fellow and her team will first collect temperature data using thermocouples from several hundred leaves located in various parts of aspen trees. Then, to record which temperatures are optimal for miners, the Fellow and her team will construct thermal performance curves using growth rate. Finally, the team will investigate how interactions between wasps and miners are altered by experimentally manipulating temperature in an experimental arena. The experiments are designed to test multiple hypotheses about how leaf temperature affects leaf miners and how it might alter predator-prey interactions. The Fellow will also teach Native middle school children how to use basic biological monitoring techniques with insects to assess the health of streams around the Flathead Indian Reservation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.