NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Ecological and evolutionary dynamics of biparental inbreeding and outbreeding in the intertidal copepod

这一行动为NSF 2021财年生物学博士后研究奖学金提供了资金，综合研究调查了支配基因组、环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则。该奖学金支持研究员的研究和培训，这些研究员将以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。配偶之间的亲缘关系程度，以及它们之间共有的共同祖先的数量，是生物后代进化的一个重要因素。近亲交配和近亲交配代表着许多生物的一系列繁殖策略，两者都有成本和好处，可以稳定或推动交配模式向这一区间的一端或另一端靠拢。这项研究旨在增进我们对近亲繁殖为什么在某些物种中普遍存在，以及环境和遗传因素如何有助于近亲繁殖和近亲繁殖之间的平衡的理解。这位研究员将获得宝贵的经验，在本科课程中客座讲课，在独立研究项目中指导本科生，以及为专注于进化的K-12学生设计基于探究的学习活动。近亲繁殖和近亲繁殖之间关系的最新证据表明，近亲繁殖和近亲繁殖之间的动态在推动繁殖模式和扩散形式之间的重大进化转变方面发挥了重要作用。在一些交配表型不同的海洋无脊椎动物中，响应环境异质性的适应性分化可能是有利于维持共适应基因型别的关键过程，也是造成近亲交配的惊人规模的原因之一。这项研究利用多代繁殖实验、基因组学、细胞分析和对潮间带桡足类(Tigriopus CalforNicus)适合度的评估来研究交配系统是如何从基因组、表型和环境中出现的。这项研究提出了这样的假设，即局部适应促进了近亲交配系统的进化，并使用一个常见的花园实验来测试在与起源地的极端温度匹配和不匹配的条件下近亲交配衰退的严重性。此外，这项研究还评估了制约交配系统的遗传因素，并量化了近亲繁殖和近亲繁殖的抑郁程度。在进化和保护遗传学领域的杰出研究人员的指导下，该研究员将开发一套多方面的技能，专注于多代杂交、现代计算基因组学方法和种群水平的适应模式。该奖项反映了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 2021, 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. The degree that mates are related, and the amount of common ancestry shared between them is an important element in the evolution of future generations of organisms. Inbreeding and outbreeding represent a spectrum of breeding strategies for many organisms, and both have costs and benefits that can stabilize or push patterns of mating toward one end of this spectrum or the other. This research aims to advance our understanding of why inbreeding is often prevalent in some species, and how environmental and genetic factors contribute to the balance between inbreeding and outbreeding. The fellow will gain invaluable experience guest lecturing in undergraduate courses, mentoring an undergraduate in an independent research project, and in designing an inquiry-based learning activity for K–12 students focused on evolution. Recent evidence of associations among organismal traits and inbreeding in marine invertebrates suggest that the dynamics between inbreeding and outbreeding plays an important role in driving major evolutionary transitions between reproductive modes and forms of dispersal. Adaptive differentiation in response to environmental heterogeneity may be a key process favoring the maintenance of coadapted genotypes and contributing to the surprising magnitude of inbreeding in some marine invertebrates with separate mating phenotypes. This research employs multigenerational breeding experiments, genomics, cellular assays, and assessments of fitness in the intertidal copepod (Tigriopus californicus) to investigate how mating systems emerge from genomes, phenotypes, and environments. The research addresses the hypothesis that local adaptation facilitates the evolution of inbreeding mating systems, and uses a common garden experiment to test the severity of inbreeding depression under conditions that match and mismatch temperature extremes in the site of origin. Moreover, the research evaluates the genetic factors that constrain mating systems, and quantifies inbreeding and outbreeding depression across a spectrum of parental relatedness. Under the guidance of prominent researchers in the fields of evolution and conservation genetics, the fellow will develop a multifaceted skillset focused on multigenerational hybridization, modern approaches to computational genomics, and population-level patterns of adaptation.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.