NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2018

2018 财年 NSF 生物学博士后奖学金

• 批准号: 1811400
• 负责人: Roxanne Beltran
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Beltran Roxanne S
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-09-01 至 2020-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1811400&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; FY

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2018, 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. The Fellow will characterize the navigation and diving abilities of northern elephant seal pups. Three months after birth these young animals begin their first migration, learning to navigate and forage without any parental instruction. Despite exhibiting the farthest independent migration of any mammal, it is unknown how these seals find their way, or their way home, in a seemingly featureless ocean. In the next 100 years, increases in sea surface temperature and decreases in primary productivity are expected in the North Pacific Ocean. These changes are expected to affect northern elephant seals by shifting their critical foraging habitat northward by 1,000km and deeper in the water column. Thus, it is important to determine whether elephant seal navigation and diving are genetically passed on from mother to daughter and if so, how that might limit their adaptive capacities to predicted climate change. The Fellow will work with sponsoring scientist Dr. Daniel Costa from the University of California Santa Cruz to analyze existing and newly-collected tracking and diving data from mother elephant seals and their female pups. Using a novel simulation model, the Fellow will predict the impacts of climate change on a predator with top-down ecosystem control. In these ways, the Fellow will be trained in cutting-edge biologging and computational techniques and will obtain professional development opportunities in science communication. Animal navigation is an intriguing field that provides an ideal basis for teaching students key concepts in behavior, ecology, and evolution. By incorporating results into high school biology learning modules, the Fellow will gain valuable teaching skills. Research findings will also be communicated with docents and visitors at the A?o Nuevo State Park research site in collaboration with the State Park PORTS distance learning program. Finally, the Fellow will provide hands-on research experience to undergraduate and graduate students, with an emphasis on broadening the participation of underrepresented minorities.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.

该行动资助 2018 财年 NSF 生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大生物学领域代表性不足群体的参与。该奖学金支持该研究员的研究和培训计划，该计划将增加生物学领域代表性不足的群体的参与。该研究员将描述北象海豹幼崽的导航和潜水能力。出生三个月后，这些小动物开始第一次迁徙，在没有父母指导的情况下学习导航和觅食。尽管它们的独立迁徙距离是哺乳动物中最远的，但我们仍不清楚这些海豹是如何在看似毫无特色的海洋中找到出路或回家的。未来100年，北太平洋海面温度预计将上升，初级生产力将下降。这些变化预计将影响北象海豹，将其重要的觅食栖息地向北移动 1,000 公里并进入更深的水体。因此，确定象海豹的导航和潜水是否通过基因从母亲传给女儿非常重要，如果是的话，这可能会如何限制它们对预测气候变化的适应能力。该研究员将与加州大学圣克鲁斯分校的资助科学家丹尼尔·科斯塔博士合作，分析来自象海豹妈妈及其雌性幼崽的现有和新收集的跟踪和潜水数据。该研究员将使用一种新颖的模拟模型，通过自上而下的生态系统控制来预测气候变化对捕食者的影响。通过这些方式，研究员将接受尖端生物记录和计算技术的培训，并将获得科学传播方面的专业发展机会。动物导航是一个有趣的领域，为教授学生行为、生态和进化的关键概念提供了理想的基础。通过将结果纳入高中生物学习模块，研究员将获得宝贵的教学技能。研究结果还将与州立公园 PORTS 远程学习项目合作，在 A?o Nuevo 州立公园研究地点与讲解员和游客进行交流。最后，该研究员将为本科生和研究生提供实践研究经验，重点是扩大代表性不足的少数群体的参与。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评估进行评估，被认为值得支持。影响审查标准。