NSF Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biology combine research and training components to prepare young scientists for careers in emerging areas where biology intersects with other scientific disciplines, in this case with mathematics and physical sciences. The Fellows are expected to lead the nation's scientific workforce of the future. This fellowship to Eliot Miller supports research and training to incorporate species interactions in species distribution models. The host institution is the University of Idaho; sponsoring scientists are Drs. Luke Harmon and Scott Nuismer. Training goals include gaining skills to incorporate currently unexploited mathematics-like network theory into species distribution models. Educational outreach consists of mentoring and training undergraduate students at the University of Idaho. A citizen science component includes building a large database of quantitative natural history data to inform the models.

Current species distribution models use environmental variables to predict where a species occurs but do not incorporate information on the presence or absence of other species with which the focal species might interact. Clear cases exist where one species determines the occurrence of another species but, on a broad scale, there is no general consensus on whether species shape one another's distributions, which has been called the 'Eltonian noise hypothesis.' Incorporating species interactions into species distribution models takes advantage of quantitative natural history data to calculate pairwise niche overlaps of interacting species. Two software products emerge from the project, one designed to incorporate species interactions into species distribution models, the other designed to elucidate dominance hierarchies among a group of interacting species. Implementing such models requires both biological and mathematical knowledge; they offer a strong means of testing the Eltonian noise hypothesis. Incorporation of species interactions into existing models is needed to forecast community assembly and disassembly in the face of environmental change.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Biological Infrastructure (DBI)
Application #
1402506
Program Officer
Amanda Simcox
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2014-10-01
Budget End
2016-09-30
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
$138,000
Indirect Cost
Name
Miller Eliot T
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Saint Louis
State
MO
Country
United States
Zip Code
63112