This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2020, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports research and training of the Fellow that will utilize biological collections in innovative ways. Human health depends on plants around the world, with many people making their own medicines from plants and also acquiring up to 90% of their required energy from plant-based foods. This project explores why people use some plants for medicine and food rather than other plants. The Fellow will collect measurements and DNA sequences from some of the 1.23 million dried plant specimens at the California Botanic Garden collected over centuries by scientists. The research will test whether plants that are easy to find, fast-growing, or genetically related are more likely to be used as food and medicine by Native American tribal groups. The research will also test whether Native American tribal groups that are culturally related or nearby are likely to use similar plants. Project results will reveal ways to protect plant diversity and our knowledge about them; this includes the ability to identify plants that contribute to nutrition or new medicines that remedy conditions such as heart disease. The study will also incorporate educational outreach activities at the host institution and use internships to involve undergraduates from underrepresented minorities in the research objectives.
The Fellow will collect DNA sequence data and availability and growth rate traits from herbarium specimens of all 5,258 California native plant species, and all 342 species in the buckwheat subfamily Eriogonoideae. Plant trait and genetic data will be combined with linguistic and geographic data from all 291 Native American tribal groups across the United States and Canada to predict the distribution of 40,000 Native American medicinal and food uses across different plant taxa and tribal groups. This interdisciplinary approach will provide the first tests of how plant availability (across space and time), plant growth rate, plant genetics, cultural evolution, and cultural proximity shape human knowledge of useful plants. The Fellow will receive training in DNA sequence extraction, phylogenetic reconstruction, cross-cultural analysis, and Bayesian analytical techniques. This project will inform conservation of both biological and cultural diversity; expand databases of plant traits, genetic sequences, and Indigenous ecological knowledge; and promote diversity in STEM through mentoring. This project also incorporates community outreach for middle and high school students based on native plants, biological collections, and Native American ecological knowledge.
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.
