9512767 Starmer This award will support the travel costs for Dr. William Starmer and Dr. Larry Wolf from the Biology Department at Syracuse University to conduct collaborative research with Prof. J.S.F. Barker of the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. The focus of this work will involve field studies of a unique insect-microorganism-plant system in Australia. The system involves drosophilid flies that live in native Hibiscus flowers. The flies rely on nutrients provided by yeasts that grow in the closed blossoms, while thee yeasts rely on the flies for transport to newly opened flowers. The mutual benefits between fly and yeast make this system appropriate for studies on ecological and evolutionary genetics. The studies will include investigations of the population genetic structure of flies and microbes, the determinants of reproductive characteristics in the flies, and the community ecology of the yeasts. This cooperative research bpings together investigators with complementary interests and skills in the fields of population genetics, microbial ecology and behavioral ecology. The work in Australia is supported through the Department of Industry, Science and Technology (DIST) under the US-Australia Cooperative Science Program.
