NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2016

Fong Caitlin R, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

Postdoctoral Fellow: Caitlin Fong Proposal number: 1612308 This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2016, Broadening Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology. The fellowship supports a research and training plan that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Caitlin Fong is "Resistance and Resilience of Turf Communities to Pressed and Pulsed Subsidies?. The host institution for this fellowship is California State University Northridge (CSUN), and the sponsoring scientist is Robert Carpenter. This research explores the consequences of resource subsidies for coral reefs. Resource subsidies, an addition of a resource to an ecosystem from outside its boundaries, have important influences on ecological systems, and mounting evidence suggests that human activities are increasingly influencing resource subsidies. Resources subsidies vary widely in magnitude, duration, and frequency; the pattern, or subsidy regime, can range from pulses (low frequency, high magnitude) to presses (high frequency, low magnitude). It has been proposed that increasing subsidies of nitrogen and sediment, in conjunction with reduced herbivory, cause shifts in coral reef communities from a dominance of corals to dominance by macroalgae. The Fellow is characterizing the nutrient and sediment subsidy regime of a fringing reef in French Polynesia, and quantifying the effects of the subsidies on benthic organisms. The Fellow is testing the hypothesis that nitrogen availability and sediment load are characterized by a pulse-press regime, are increased with rainfall events, and attenuate with distance from the source stream. The Fellow is also using lab and field assays to test the hypothesis that algal species have individual responses to press versus pulse nutrient and sediment subsidies and different resistance to herbivores that can be characterized by trade-offs. Finally, the Fellow is conducting a field experiment to test the hypothesis that the subsidy regimes of nitrogen and sediments interact with each other and with herbivory to drive shifts in benthic organisms. CSUN is an official minority serving (MSI) and Hispanic serving (HSI) intuition, and 51% of the students are self-described minorities, which facilitates the Fellow?s efforts to broaden the participation of under-represented groups. She is collaborating with existing programs at CSUN aimed at broadening participation to channel students into her research program in biology and ocean science. Additionally, the Fellow is offering a workshop for graduates students entitled ?Develop Your Outreach? to develop research modules or teachable units aimed at exposing and involving underrepresented groups in science. Finally, the Fellow is sharing her research through online platforms, including: 1) publishing research updates on her personal website, 2) publishing updates called ?A Day in the Life of a Marine Ecologist?, 3) creating videos of fieldwork to provide a virtual field experience to students, and 4) using Twitter and Instagram accounts to provide updates on research.