This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2015, Broadening Participation. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow and a plan to broaden participation of groups under-represented in science. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Sarah P. Lawson is "Ecological causes and genetic effects of social plasticity in the small carpenter bee across a latitudinal gradient." The host institution for this fellowship is the University of New Hampshire, and the sponsoring scientist is Sandra Rehan.
An important research topic in animal behavior and evolution is the shift from solitary to social living. Both ecological and genetic differences are thought to play important roles in this transition. Facultatively social organisms are at the transition of solitary to social groups and thus offer a unique opportunity to compare the ecological and evolutionary pressures involved in the onset of social behavior. The small carpenter bees, genus Ceratina (Hymenoptera: Apidae) exhibit a range of behaviors, including maternal care, division of labor, mutual tolerance and kin discrimination, which are often posited as emergent properties of highly social groups, making them an excellent experimental system for this research. In some Ceratina species, these behaviors and the resulting level of sociality vary both between and within populations across a latitudinal gradient. The long-term goal of the research is to determine the social plasticity across a latitudinal gradient in one such Ceratina species, C. calcarata, with the overall objective of providing a unique system for comparing social group dynamics across populations. These bees are native pollinators and the research results promise important information for local agriculture.
The fellowship also provides new opportunities for postdoctoral training within and outside the laboratory. Broader impacts include: 1) scientific and leadership training for a member of an underrepresented minority who will gain invaluable field experience working with an emerging model organism for the study of social evolution in a novel environment as well as new techniques in the field of genomics and comparative social evolution; 2) educational outreach through the University of New Hampshire Women in Science Organization by organizing a hands-on lab for students from the local middle school; and 3) collaboration with the Seacoast Science Center to develop a program to encourage girls to explore STEM careers.
