This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2005. 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 US science. 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 "Understanding the trophic relationships of insects: examining the effect of growth rate on nitrogen and carbon stable isotope content of an herbivorous insect." One of the most widely recognized patterns in isotopic ecology is that animals are enriched in the stable isotope of nitrogen (15N) relative to their diets. This pattern is commonly used to assess an animal's trophic level. However, the mechanisms controlling variation in the enrichment of 15N are largely unknown. Laboratory experiments using an herbivorous insect, Manduca sexta (tobacco hornworm), are being conducted to test the hypothesis that stoichiometric factors that influence its growth rate (C:N:P ratio of animal and food) also influence the difference in 15N content between its tissues and the food that it ingests.
The Fellow is gaining new experience as an ecologist by investigating organism-level questions using an interdisciplinary approach.
