Proposal number: 1612271
This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2016, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow to take transformative approaches to grand challenges in biology that employ biological collections in highly innovative ways. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Isaac Ligocki is "Understanding the behavioral, physiological, and neuroendocrine impacts of agricultural pollutants: an integrative approach." The host institution for this fellowship is University of California, Davis, and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Rebecca Calisi RodrÃguez.
The primary objective of this project is to investigate how agricultural pollutants influence the biology, neuroendocrinology, behavior, development, and population dynamics of both wild terrestrial and aquatic inhabitants as compared to those collected from areas free of such pollutants. Agricultural activities, while critical for food production, can have non-intended negative impacts on farmland and its inhabitants. In recent decades, the use of pesticides and herbicides has expanded greatly on farmland and its adjacent or associated water systems, differentially exposing terrestrial and aquatic organisms to various toxicants. Little is known about how exposure to agricultural pollutants impacts the development and survival of wild organisms, or the persistence of their populations. The Fellow is exploring these questions, using museum collections as a key element of the study. These collections are providing detailed insights into the historical impact of pollutants on organisms over the last century, and enhancing comparisons among current populations. Because many agricultural pesticides are endocrine disruptors, the Fellow is testing the hypothesis that exposure to these chemicals will impact the aforementioned biological functions and behaviors, and predicts that this will be observable from a historical perspective through comparisons of museum and field collections. This project is one of the most complete investigations of how certain agricultural practices affect wild species.
The fellow is gaining expertise in a number of cutting edge research techniques and establishing collaborations with other scientists, thereby contributing to his success as an independent researcher. The Fellow's research is facilitating measures to assess, strategize, and potentially circumvent the negative impacts of environmental contaminants on human and wildlife communities. The Fellow is implementing a number of broader impact activities, including educational outreach to students both locally and in agricultural communities near field sites throughout California and the surrounding states, with a particular emphasis on broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM fields.
