This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics for FY 2005. The fellowship supports research and training at the postdoctoral level at the intersection of biology and the informational, computational, mathematical, and statistical sciences. The goal of the fellowship is to provide training to a young scientist in preparation for a career in biological informatics in which research and education will be integrated. There is an increasing need for training in biological informatics at all occupational levels, and it is expected that Fellows trained through these fellowships will play important roles in training the future workforce.
The research and training plan for this fellowship is entitled "Predicting the consequences of selecting nature reserves based on poor biological data." Computerized reserve selection algorithms represent significant improvements over ad-hoc selection methods; however, they are extremely data-intensive. Most regions lack the resources necessary to obtain the extensive data these algorithms require. This research quantifies the impact of poor data on the results of reserve selection algorithms by subsampling well-known species distributions to reflect realistic sampling in data-poor areas.
The complexity and scale of conservation planning necessitates use of informatics approaches. This research develops the Fellow's skills in large-scale data management, processing, analysis, programming, geographic information systems, and modeling. Collaborating with academic and NGO scientists will enhance the relevance of these computer-intensive methods for both basic science and society through application to conservation.
