Schultheis The International Research Fellow Awards Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad. This award will provide Dr. Alicia S. Schultheis with support for twelve months to work with Dr. Jane Hughes at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. This one-year study will use molecular techniques developed by Dr. Schultheis to determine how adult dispersal and differences in life history affect the genetic structuring of Australian stream insect populations. They will address whether 1) adult flight operates as an effective large-scale dispersal mechanism across areas of fragmented adult (terrestrial) habitat?, and 2) are fine-scale patterns of genetic differences among larval populations of stream insects the result of limited in-stream movement and patchy oviposition? Besides leading to a better understanding of the effects of genetic structuring, it will also provide valuable information about whether fragmentation of the surrounding forest affects stream insect populations by disrupting adult dispersal. The study will provide a framework in which to begin studying similar processes in streams throughout the world, including temperate streams of North America. Dr. Hughes and her colleagues have generated a unique set of data regarding dispersal and genetic structure of stream insects that is not available elsewhere. Their data provide the only system in which effects of life history of these insects can be studied. ***
