This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2015, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow to take transformative approaches to grand challenges in biology that employ biological collections in highly innovative ways. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Teresa Feo is "The development and evolution of unusual branching patterns in feathers." The host institution for this fellowship is the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, and the sponsoring scientists are Helen James and Carla Dove.
Understanding the evolution of complex organisms requires knowledge of their development, the processes that build adult organisms from single cells each generation. The evolution of developmental processes has lead to the incredible morphological diversity seen in nature. The field of evolutionary developmental biology, referred to as evo-devo, gives biologists new tools and approaches for exploring both evolution and development. Feathers are a model system in evo-devo due to their stunning morphological diversity and their accessibility to experimental manipulation. Theoretical models and experimental investigations have provided an understanding of basic branching in feathers, whose diversity plays important roles in flight and mating behavior. However the development of unusual feathers with highly modified branching patterns is unknown. The fellowship research investigates the evolution, morphology, and development of unusual feathers to advance knowledge of the development of morphological diversity in a model system. It relies on existing avian collections at the Smithsonian Institution, which is the third largest collection in the world and represents 80% of the known avian species.
Training objectives during the fellowship include learning and applying phylogenetic comparative methods and reaction-diffusion modeling as well as acquiring technical skills including electron microscopy, museum specimen preparation, and high-resolution computed tomography (CT) methods for feathers. Educational outreach takes advantage of existing outreach and internship programs at the Smithsonian for recruiting students to collections-based scientific research. Many birds with unusual feathers, such as the birds of paradise, are very charismatic with broad public appeal. The fellowship incorporates biology, mathematical modeling, and computer science to make new discoveries about these charismatic birds and is an ideal platform for educating the public about the interrelations of STEM fields. Public outreach emphasizes the relevance of combining science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to better understand the beauty and diversity of nature.
