NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY22: The Role of Migratory Behavior in Population Divergence and Speciation

该行动资助了2022财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，即调查基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。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。这项研究研究了动物迁徙如何有助于形成新物种。许多不同的动物从昆虫到大象、鱼、驯鹿和著名的鸟类都要长途迁徙。这些旅程影响动物的生存，并可能改变它们繁殖的时间、地点和对象，从而混合基因。这一点很重要，因为曾经杂交但不再杂交的动物群体开始分裂成新的物种。这项研究利用所有鸟类之间的关系来测试迁徙的鸟类是否比不迁徙的鸟类更容易分裂成新的物种。该研究还研究了家燕，这是一种目前正在分裂成多个物种的鸟类，以找到解释迁移在这一分裂过程中的作用的遗传模式。了解迁徙如何导致新物种的形成是很重要的，因为动物正在改变它们的迁徙时间和路线，由于气候变化。该项目将培训三名本科生，并培训研究员掌握新的科学技能，并将提供一个移徙信息数据库，供其他科学家用于进一步研究。迁移可能会通过阻止不同迁移表型之间的交配，或对它们施加分歧选择，来促进迁移区（在同一地点繁殖，但迁移路径和非繁殖地点不同的种群）的物种形成。另一种假设是，迁移可能会阻碍物种形成，使人口接触繁殖范围。这一提议检验了生命的规律，即迁移在生物等级的两个层次上促进物种形成。首先，在鸟类生命树的比较系统发育分析测试是否迁徙谱系比非迁徙谱系有更高的多样化率。其次，家燕亚种复合体内的比较基因组分析利用三大洲的五个重复的迁移划分来评估跨迁移划分的基因型和表型分歧模式是否一致，以及它们是否是由于迁移表型与地理隔离的历史。后一个项目还通过迁移和男性/女性表型的基因组图谱将基因组与表型联系起来，以更好地了解不同表型如何共同进化。该项目将在比较遗传学和基因组分析方面对研究员进行培训，并为来自生物学代表性不足群体的三名本科生提供研究经验和专业发展。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。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, 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 research studies how animal migration contributes to forming new species. Many different animals—from insects to elephants, fish, reindeer, and famously birds—migrate long distances. These journeys impact animals’ survival and can change when, where, and with whom they reproduce and thereby mix genes. This is important because groups of animals that were once interbreeding but are no longer doing so begin to split into new species. This research uses the relationships among all bird species to test whether groups that migrate have split into new species more often than groups that do not migrate. The research also studies Barn Swallows, a bird species that is currently in the process of splitting into multiple species, to find genetic patterns that explain the role of migration in this splitting process. Understanding how migration causes new species to form is important because animals are changing their timing and routes of migration due to the changing climate. This project will train three undergraduate students, as well as train the fellow in new scientific skills, and will provide a database of migration information that can be used by other scientists for further research. Migration may promote speciation at migratory divides (populations which breed in the same location, but differ in their migratory paths and nonbreeding sites) by precluding mating between different migratory phenotypes, or exerting divergent selection on them. An alternative hypothesis is that migration may impede speciation by bringing populations into contact at breeding ranges. This proposal tests the rule of life that migration promotes speciation at two levels of biological hierarchy. First, a comparative phylogenetic analysis across the avian tree of life tests whether migratory lineages have higher diversification rates than non-migratory lineages. Second, a comparative genomic analysis within the Barn Swallow subspecies complex leverages five replicated migratory divides on three continents to evaluate whether patterns of genotypic and phenotypic divergence across migratory divides are consistent and whether they are due to migratory phenotype vs. a history of geographic isolation. This latter project also connects genomes to phenomes through genomic mapping of migratory and male/female phenotypes to better understand how divergent phenotypes may co-evolve. The project will train the fellow in comparative phylogenetics and genomic analyses, and provide research experience and professional development for three undergraduates from underrepresented groups in biology. Research will be disseminated to a public audience through science communication organizations.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.