NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2015

Gil Michael, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2015, Broadening Participation. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow and a plan to broaden participation of groups under-represented in science. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Michael Gil is "Effects of prey social context on predator-prey interactions and community stability in coral reefs." The host institution for this fellowship is The University of California at Davis, and the sponsoring scientists include Andy Sih (primary), Marissa Baskett, and Mullica Jaroensutasinee (Walailak University, Thailand). In a variety of ecosystems, prey have been shown to rapidly propagate danger reactions and signals, across species and wide spatial ranges, by incidentally providing information to one another, e.g., by evading a predator. Prey behavior that results from this social information may have important consequences for predator-prey interactions and, ultimately, the structure of the greater community. In coral reefs, where mixed-species prey fishes consume algae that drive coral declines, social information shared among prey could influence global coral reef degradation to alga-dominated states. The fellowship research uses field experimentation, assisted by computer vision technology, combined with mathematical simulation modeling to examine the behavioral and ecological effects of social information in mixed-species reef fish assemblages. This integrated approach is revealing important insights regarding the role of social information in the dynamics and function of animal communities, a topic of general conservation concern that is largely unexplored in most taxa. Further, it elucidates mechanisms underlying community stability in coral reefs, a topic that continues to perplex researchers. Training goals include emphasis on quantitative methods and the study of animal behavior to formulate and parameterize a mathematical model for predicting the effects of social information on predator, prey, and resource dynamics. Public outreach includes creating micro-narrative films that educate a diverse public audience of non-scientists on core concepts in ecology/animal behavior and on what science and a career therein actually entail. These products are to be distributed through a variety of outlets, including an interactive public science communication website (co-administered with students) and lectures given to high schools with large populations of under-represented students. An international collaboration is being established between UC Davis and Walailak University (Thailand) whose benefits include ongoing ecological monitoring in Thailand and informing conservation efforts in socioeconomically invaluable coral reef ecosystems.