This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2020, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the Fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Breaking down patterns of observed diversity across levels of biology can help us understand the rules that determine how organisms evolve to fit their preferred habitats and how biodiversity is maintained. The research aims to understand how brain responses have evolved to produce behaviors that help different species live together. The Fellow will collect behavioral, neural, and genome data to understand how different cricket species perceive one another in their shared environment, impacting how they are able to coexist yet remain distinct species in nature. The Fellow will also participate in a number of direct mentorship and community-building outreach activities at the host institution to promote diverse perspectives in science.
Given the complexity of behavioral systems, we lack a detailed understanding of how adaptation and constraint at lower levels of biological organization can shift ecological and evolutionary patterns at higher levels. Theory predicts that overlap in shared ecology, including sensory abilities used to perceive mating signals in sympatry, should have ecological consequences on species distributions, and evolutionary implications on rates of divergence between species. This research aims to connect how neurosensory systems used in mate choice shape ecological communities and impact speciation using the behaviorally diverse and rapidly radiating clade of Hawaiian swordtail crickets. Crickets in the genus Laupala have the fastest known speciation rate of any invertebrate, and many species are both syntopic and sympatric to one another during mate calling. By surveying replicated populations of sympatric species, collecting whole-genome data, and comparing neuronal recordings of decision-making circuits in different species, this project will test if overlapping neurocognitive responses during mate choice influences interspecific interactions, scaling to differences in species overlap in sympatry and to rates of hybridization across the genome. Ultimately, the Fellow will integrate diverse data types to test how increased diversity in lower levels of biological organization like neural responses or behaviors may constrain ecological and species diversity. Outside this work, the Fellow will mentor students through recruitment programs aimed at diverse student populations, and gain leadership and teaching certificates to better prepare for more senior academic roles.
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.
