NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2015

Ingley Spencer J, Provo UT

Investigators

Abstract

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 Spencer J. Ingley is, "Can species capture beneficial traits and expand their ranges through hybridization?" The host institutions for this fellowship are the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS) and the sponsoring scientists are Karin Pfennig (UNC) and Bryan Stuart (NCMNS). Can hybridization facilitate the expansion of a species' niche? The fellowship research addresses this fundamental question through the use of historic museum collections and data from behavioral studies. Several lines of evidence suggest that hybridization with the New Mexican spadefoot toad facilitated the spread of the Plains spadefoot toad into the American Southwest via the capture of adaptive developmental traits. Using morphological signatures of development speed and ancient DNA techniques, the role of hybridization in developmental evolution, and its implications for range expansion, are being investigated. Specimens from several museum collections, including NCMNS, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum, Texas Natural History Collections, and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, make this research possible and provide a full range of present and past evolutionary and ecological dynamics. Training goals include learning new data acquisition and analytic tools, including ancient DNA extraction and analysis. Career development activities include science communication to both public and scientific audiences. Broader impacts fall into two categories. First, a robust plan is being implemented to increase participation of underrepresented groups in science and outreach to the public through existing programs, i.e., Darwin Day.