NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2016

Borths Matthew R, Athens OH

Investigators

Abstract

Postdoctoral Fellow: Matthew R. Borths Proposal Number 1612062 This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2016, Interdisciplinary Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow to engage in research and training that utilizes biological collections. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Matthew Borths is "Mammalian carnivore diversity, replacement, and extinction when the modern African ecosystem emerged." The host institution for this fellowship is Ohio University, and the sponsoring scientist is Nancy Stevens. This project examines changes in African food webs after the continent of Africa collided with Eurasia twenty-three million years ago. When this continental collision occurred, animals native to Africa spread into Asian, European, and American ecosystems while animals native to these northern continents spread south into African ecosystems. Before the collision, the top of the African food chain was occupied by predators from Hyaenodonta, a group of mammals that are now extinct. After the collision, relatives of modern cats, dogs, and mongooses invaded Africa and started to occupy carnivore niches alongside hyaenodonts. By about eight million years ago, the hyaenodonts, once a diverse and dominant group of carnivores, were extinct. The Fellow is examining this crucial time period in African history, when carnivores from different continents encountered one another, establishing a natural experiment that will facilitate understanding how changes at the top of the food chain affect the ecosystem. To accomplish this goal, the Fellow is using several biological collections to analyze changes in African carnivore assemblages, and developing models of the niches occupied by the once-dominant hyaenodont carnivores before and after the invasion of carnivores from outside Africa. Newly discovered hyaenodont material collected in the Rukwa Rift Basin of Tanzania and Meswa Bridge in Kenya is being described to better understand the full diversity of hyaenodonts during this ecological transition. Today, carnivores play a significant role in stabilizing their ecosystems and supporting biodiversity. But, around the world, carnivores are rapidly being lost in modern ecosystems. The discoveries made through this project will provide a deep time perspective to policymakers who must confront the rapid decrease in mammalian carnivore diversity and populations in North America and around the world. The Fellow is receiving training in paleobiological methods and niche modeling. He is also mentoring undergraduate researchers recruited from underrepresented groups in science, including the Appalachian Scholars program at Ohio University. The Fellow is making his results accessible to a wider, non-specialized audience through Past Time, a project he co-created and that uses blogging, podcasts, and virtual fieldtrips to paleontology labs to illustrate the scientific process through paleontology. The Fellow is also collaborating with sponsor Stevens to create online and physical exhibits for a natural history and environment museum at Ohio University, which will feature portions of this project. For many K-12 students in Appalachian Ohio and West Virginia, this museum will be the closest natural history exhibit space.