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.
