NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2020

这项行动资助了2020财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，综合研究调查了基因组，环境和表型之间的生命相互作用的规则。该研究金支持研究员的研究和培训，以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。打破观察到的生物多样性在不同生物学水平上的模式，可以帮助我们理解决定生物如何进化以适应其首选栖息地以及如何保持生物多样性的规则。这项研究旨在了解大脑反应是如何演变成帮助不同物种共同生活的行为的。该研究员将收集行为，神经和基因组数据，以了解不同的蟋蟀物种如何在共享的环境中相互感知，影响它们如何能够共存，但仍然是自然界中不同的物种。该研究员还将参加一些直接的导师和社区建设外展活动，在东道国机构，以促进科学的多元化观点。鉴于行为系统的复杂性，我们缺乏详细的了解如何适应和约束在较低水平的生物组织可以改变生态和进化模式在较高的水平。理论预测，在共享的生态重叠，包括感觉能力用于感知交配信号的共域，应该有生态后果的物种分布，和物种之间的分歧率的进化影响。这项研究的目的是连接如何在配偶选择中使用的神经感觉系统形状的生态社区和影响物种形成使用夏威夷剑尾蟋蟀的行为多样性和快速辐射的分支。在所有无脊椎动物中，劳帕拉属的蟋蟀的物种形成速度最快，许多物种在求偶时彼此同域和同域。通过调查同域物种的复制种群，收集全基因组数据，并比较不同物种决策回路的神经元记录，该项目将测试在配偶选择过程中重叠的神经认知反应是否会影响种间相互作用，缩放到同域物种重叠的差异和整个基因组的杂交率。最终，该研究员将整合不同的数据类型，以测试较低水平的生物组织（如神经反应或行为）的多样性增加如何限制生态和物种多样性。在这项工作之外，研究员将通过针对不同学生群体的招聘计划指导学生，并获得领导和教学证书，以便更好地为更高级的学术角色做好准备。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值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 2020, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the Fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Breaking down patterns of observed diversity across levels of biology can help us understand the rules that determine how organisms evolve to fit their preferred habitats and how biodiversity is maintained. The research aims to understand how brain responses have evolved to produce behaviors that help different species live together. The Fellow will collect behavioral, neural, and genome data to understand how different cricket species perceive one another in their shared environment, impacting how they are able to coexist yet remain distinct species in nature. The Fellow will also participate in a number of direct mentorship and community-building outreach activities at the host institution to promote diverse perspectives in science.Given the complexity of behavioral systems, we lack a detailed understanding of how adaptation and constraint at lower levels of biological organization can shift ecological and evolutionary patterns at higher levels. Theory predicts that overlap in shared ecology, including sensory abilities used to perceive mating signals in sympatry, should have ecological consequences on species distributions, and evolutionary implications on rates of divergence between species. This research aims to connect how neurosensory systems used in mate choice shape ecological communities and impact speciation using the behaviorally diverse and rapidly radiating clade of Hawaiian swordtail crickets. Crickets in the genus Laupala have the fastest known speciation rate of any invertebrate, and many species are both syntopic and sympatric to one another during mate calling. By surveying replicated populations of sympatric species, collecting whole-genome data, and comparing neuronal recordings of decision-making circuits in different species, this project will test if overlapping neurocognitive responses during mate choice influences interspecific interactions, scaling to differences in species overlap in sympatry and to rates of hybridization across the genome. Ultimately, the Fellow will integrate diverse data types to test how increased diversity in lower levels of biological organization like neural responses or behaviors may constrain ecological and species diversity. Outside this work, the Fellow will mentor students through recruitment programs aimed at diverse student populations, and gain leadership and teaching certificates to better prepare for more senior academic roles.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.