This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY2003. The goal of the fellowship is to increase the participation of minority scientists at the postdoctoral level and to prepare them for positions of scientific leadership in academia and industry. To attain this goal, the fellowship provides opportunities for postdoctoral training and research of the highest quality to recent doctoral recipients. It is expected that Fellows supported through these fellowships will play important roles in training of the future workforce.
The research and training plan is entitled "Reproduction of hermaphroditic leeches: investment in both male and female sexual roles, mating strategies, and parental care." Many invertebrates are hermaphroditic, capable of mating in both sexual roles, but little is known about their mating strategies. This research uses Helobdella stagnalis (a leech that broods its young) and investigates how hermaphrodites split their reproductive resources between the male versus female role (sex allocation); how they obtain mates and fertilize eggs (sexual selection); and their parental care abilities.
