This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2011, Broadening Participation. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Alexandra N Harmon-Threatt is: Understanding pollinator community structure and its effects on pollination service in a naturally fragmented landscape. The host institution for this fellowship is Washington University in St. Louis, and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Tiffany Knight.
In increasingly human-dominated and fragmented landscapes, valuable knowledge about community dynamics is gained and species losses are prevented by using both landscape and organism features to understand patterns of biodiversity. This is especially important for pollinators, which provide a supporting service to plants and help stabilize plant communities. This study investigates pollinator communities in the Ozark glades. The location for the research is a naturally fragmented ecosystem associated with rocky outcrops in a densely forested matrix where significant efforts to restore glades are occurring. Using common landscape features, such as patch size, isolation, and dispersal ability; adding new features, patch age and dietary breadth; and measuring extent of pollination service, this research poses and seeks to answer two questions: 1) How do landscape features affect pollinator diversity and composition? 2) How does pollinator diversity and composition affect pollination service to plants? Understanding pollinator communities in fragmented landscapes could prove key in averting a "global pollination crisis" and providing targeted recommendations for restoration.
The proposed research provides the Fellow diverse opportunities to develop as a researcher and teacher. The training goals being met are 1) building additional technical and methodological skills, 2) learning mentoring skills for a diverse group of students and 3) increasing teaching preparation and experience. To broaden participation, high school and college students from groups under represented in science are being included in the research; and guest lectures are being given in undergraduate courses to expose students to diversity in academia.
