BII: Uncovering mechanisms of amphibian resilience to global change from molecules to landscapes

预测生物多样性的未来最重要的是知道生物系统何时以及如何适应（即，可以从）人为干扰中恢复。该生物整合研究所的重点是了解对一个关键的全球威胁的适应能力：新兴传染病。该团队将开发一个新的框架来衡量多个尺度，压力源和系统的弹性，并将其应用于涉及与全球两栖动物下降有关的真菌疾病的案例研究。基于过去在四个互补系统中的研究，该团队将解决四个问题：（1）干扰的历史在系统之间有何不同？(2)生物组织不同层次的变化如何塑造了整个系统的反应？(3)哪些机制有助于提高复原力，这些机制是否在各系统之间共享？(4)弹性如何被多种相互作用的压力源调节？该框架和研究结果将适用于数百种面临疾病相关压力的两栖动物物种，更广泛地说，也适用于了解生物系统对无数全球变化威胁的适应能力。该研究所的培训活动将通过博士后学者利用真实的生物学研究经验达到并连接高中，这些经验促进了跨学科的理解，为大量学生提供服务，重点关注代表性不足的群体，并促进STEM的持续性。外联活动将向学生、教师、公众和野生动物管理人员提供有关生物多样性、复原力和全球变化的信息。该研究所的活动将展示一种综合的团队科学方法的力量，以解决生物学中一些最大和最具挑战性的问题。该生物学综合研究所（BII）的重点是了解全球变化背景下的恢复力。复原力，或在扰动后恢复的能力，是生命系统的一种自然属性。由于缺乏适用于不同规模、不同系统以及应对不同压力的共同货币和框架，机械理解的进展受到阻碍。该小组的活动将通过制定一个灵活的复原力框架，并将其应用于一个详细的案例研究，涉及对生物多样性的一个关键的全球变化威胁：新出现的传染病，来解决这些知识差距。利用过去的研究，该团队的目标是通过回答四个关键问题，在四个互补系统中揭示对壶菌病（由真菌病原体引起的两栖动物EID）的恢复机制：（1）干扰的历史如何在系统之间存在差异？(2)生物组织不同层次的变化如何塑造了整个系统的反应？(3)哪些机制有助于提高复原力，这些机制是否在各系统之间共享？(4)弹性如何被多种相互作用的压力源调节？研究所的培训和推广方案将对研究工作产生反馈。培训活动将通过来自全国各地的博士后学者，通过真实的生物学研究经验，促进跨学科的理解，为大量学生提供服务，重点是代表性不足的群体，并促进STEM的持续性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Paramount to predicting the future of biodiversity is knowing when and how living systems are resilient to (i.e., can recover from) anthropogenic disturbances. The focus of this Biology Integration Institute is on understanding resilience to a key global threat: emerging infectious diseases. The team will develop a new framework to measure resilience across multiple scales, stressors, and systems, and apply it to a case study involving a fungal disease linked to global amphibian declines. Building on past research in four complementary systems, the team will address four questions: (1) How does the history of disturbance differ across systems? (2) How have changes at different levels of biological organization shaped overall system responses? (3) What are the mechanisms contributing to resilience and are they shared across systems? (4) How is resilience modulated by multiple interacting stressors? The framework and findings will be applicable to hundreds of amphibian species facing disease-related stressors and, more broadly, for understanding the resilience of biological systems to myriad global change threats. The Institute’s training activities will reach and connect high school through postdoctoral scholars using authentic biology research experiences that foster cross-disciplinary understanding, serve large numbers of students with a focus on underrepresented groups, and promote persistence in STEM. Outreach activities will reach students, teachers, members of the public, and wildlife managers with messages about biodiversity, resilience, and global change. Together, the institute’s activities will showcase the power of an integrative, team science approach for addressing some of the biggest and most challenging questions in biology.The focus of this Biology Integration Institute (BII) is on understanding resilience in the context of global change. Resilience, or the ability to recover after a perturbation, is an emergent property of living systems. Progress toward a mechanistic understanding has been stymied by the lack of a common currency and framework that is applicable across scales, among systems, and in response to different stressors. The team’s activities will address these knowledge gaps by developing a flexible resilience framework and applying it to a detailed case study involving a key global change threat to biodiversity: emerging infectious diseases (EIDs). Leveraging past research, the team aims to uncover mechanisms of resilience to chytridiomycosis, an EID of amphibians caused by a fungal pathogen, in four complementary systems by answering four key questions: (1) How does the history of disturbance differ across systems? (2) How have changes at different levels of biological organization shaped overall system responses? (3) What are the mechanisms contributing to resilience and are they shared across systems? (4) How is resilience modulated by multiple interacting stressors? The Institute’s training and outreach programs will feed back into the research. Training activities will reach and connect high school through postdoctoral scholars from across the country through authentic biology research experiences that foster cross-disciplinary understanding, serve large numbers of students with a focus on underrepresented groups, and promote persistence in STEM. Outreach activities will reach students and teachers, members of the public, and wildlife managers with messages about global change and resilience.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.