NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Modeling the singular and additive effects of various anthropogenic disturbances using genomics

这一行动资助了2020财年NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大了生物学领域代表性不足群体的参与。该研究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。物种往往同时受到多个人类制造的压力因素的影响。然而，理清这些人为应激源的单一和相加效应仍然具有挑战性。这位研究员将使用一种名为景观基因组学的技术，它可以让你识别环境和有机体遗传之间的关系，建立一个模型来理解人类诱导的环境变化(城市化、气候变化)对波多黎各淡水海龟波多黎各滑行者的影响。该物种既受到城市化造成的栖息地丧失的影响，也受到一种入侵物种--红耳滑鼠的传播的影响。此外，该研究员还将促进不同层面的社区参与。首先，这位研究员将与波多黎各科学教育工作者合作，促进iNaturist的使用，这是一款用于发现、识别和报告当地生物多样性的应用程序。其次，该研究员将为纽约赞助机构附近代表人数较少的高中生提供分子实验室技术培训。第三，这位研究员将通过Facebook上为该奖学金创建的名为Jicoteando的群组以及各种口头演示，帮助学生与研究生项目、奖学金和职业机会联系起来。这项研究将需要应用种群基因组学、空间分析和生态学研究。因此，将为研究员提供许多新技能和跨学科工作方面的培训。景观基因组学模型将测试生物和非生物因素对物种功能遗传连通性的单一和相加贡献。为了做到这一点，研究员将首先对基因组DNA进行测序，然后在整个研究区域内采样相关的景观和生态协变量。然后，协变量将被转换为阻力表面，以表征其渗透性或对遗传变异移动的抵抗力。这种变换将被用来对比由测量的协变量引起的奇异电阻和附加电阻。该研究员将与保护机构建立重要的合作关系，目标是根据景观特征和杂交的影响为物种编写管理计划。这位研究员还将获得与不同职业阶段的学生一起工作的外展经验。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 2020, 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. Species are often affected by multiple human-created stressors simultaneously. However, disentangling the singular and additive effects of these human made stressors remains challenging. The fellow will use a technique called landscape genomics, which allows you to identify relationships between the environment and genetics of organisms, to build a model to understand the effect of human induced environmental change (urbanization, climate change) on a freshwater turtle, the Puerto Rican Slider, in Puerto Rico. This species is impacted by both habitat loss to urbanization and the spread of an invasive species, the red eared slider. Additionally, the fellow will facilitate community engagement at various levels. Firstly, the fellow will work with Puerto Rican science educators to facilitate the use of iNaturalist, which is an app used to discover, identify and report local biodiversity. Secondly, the fellow will facilitate training in molecular laboratory techniques for underrepresented high school students near the sponsoring institution in New York. Thirdly, the fellow will help connect students to graduate programs, fellowships, and professional opportunities through a Facebook group called Jicoteando created for this fellowship and also via various oral presentations. This research will require the application of population genomics, spatial analyses, and ecological studies. Thus, the fellow will be provided training in many new skills and in interdisciplinary work. The landscape genomics models will test the singular and additive contributions of biotic and abiotic factors in relation to the species’ functional genetic connectivity. To accomplish this, the fellow will first sequence genomic DNA and then sample relevant landscape and ecological covariates across the study area. Covariates will then be transformed into resistance surfaces characterizing their permeability or resistance to the movement of genetic variation. This transformation will be used to contrast singular and additive resistances arising from the measured covariates. The fellow will build important collaborations with conservation agencies with the goal of writing a management plan for the species informed by the impacts of landscape features and hybridization. The fellow will also gain outreach experience working with students at various career stages.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.