NSF Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biology combine research and training components to prepare young scientists for careers in biology and require a plan to broaden participation of groups under-represented in science and engineering. The fellowships advance NSF efforts to diversify the STEM workforce now and in the future. This fellowship to Jacob Allgeier supports research to measure, monitor, and improve current efforts to protect endangered salmon in the Pacific Northwest and provide tools for sustainability efforts elsewhere. The host institution for the fellowship is the University of Washington, and the sponsoring scientists are Drs. Daniel Schindler (University of Washington) and Chris Jordan (NOAA, Northwest Fisheries Center). Training goals for the Fellow are to learn cutting-edge modeling techniques for predicting ecosystem function and population sustainability and measuring effectively river restoration. A plan to broaden participation consists of an outreach program for eighth grade students including groups under-represented in science about the connections between humans, ecosystems, and sustainability. An interactive website permits students to track migrating fish from ocean to spawning grounds; and personal in-classroom teaching modules allow the students to discover the various factors that impact salmon lifecycles.
Restoring degraded habitat represents a critical national goal as it has direct consequences for the sustainability of important ecosystem services, for example, fisheries, timber, recreation. Current restoration efforts for endangered salmonid species throughout the Columbia River Basin account for ~88% of all U.S. river restorations. This research uses animal movement to assess restoration by linking feedbacks between ecosystem function and habitat characteristics. Existing datasets of spatially explicit individual fish movement behavior of more than 150,000 individuals of two endangered salmonids across streams at various stages of restoration are being used to develop population models and quantitative metrics for assessing watershed restoration efficacy. The research promises to link population, community and ecosystem ecology through spatial dynamics and advance ecological theory by enhancing understanding of the ecological consequences of individual variation. Societal impacts include implementing the research findings into the adaptive management framework being applied throughout the Columbia River basin.
