NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2016

Putman Breanna J, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

Postdoctoral Fellow: Breanna J. Putman Proposal number: 1611562 This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2016, 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 Breanna J. Putman is "Does tolerance affect lizard species persistence in urbanized landscapes? A citizen science approach." The host institution for this fellowship is the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and the sponsoring scientists are Drs. Gregory Pauly and Daniel T. Blumstein. The Fellow's research examines the role that tolerance plays in animal responses to human disturbance via urbanization. Worldwide, urbanization is rapidly occurring and causing biodiversity loss. Many animal species are negatively affected by urbanization because they do not tolerate human disturbance. Humans induce behavioral or physiological responses in these animals that ultimately reduce their fitness. If animals do not modify these fear responses, they are likely to be pushed out of urban areas over time. Currently, we lack a fundamental understanding of the historical filtering process which led to the urban-tolerant fauna that persist today, a question that must be studied in an explicitly historical context. The Fellow's research goals are to: (1) quantify how species' ranges have changed over time in urbanized areas, and (2) determine whether differences in tolerance (i.e., fearfulness) among species explain the filtering process which led to some species moving out of urban areas. The Fellow will achieve her research goals by focusing on reptiles in Southern California, one of the most urbanized and biodiverse regions in the United States. Reptiles are an excellent model group because they serve as bioindicators of ecosystem stress and they are abundant and diverse in this region. The Fellow is comparing historic ranges of reptiles (delineated with traditional museum collections) to current ranges (delineated through modern citizen-science data), to determine which species have been negatively affected by urban development. In addition, using lizards as a model group, she is examining whether underlying fear responses (flightiness, stress reactivity) and associated natural history and life history traits predict quantified range shifts. This research extensively uses biological collections; Part 1 uses online databases of collections (VertNet and iNaturalist), and aspects of Part 2 rely on measurements of museum specimens. The Fellow's training activities include: (1) expanding knowledge on research techniques, (2) gaining experience teaching and training undergraduates, (3) gaining expertise in informal education and citizen science, and (4) establishing data that will drive the early portion of her career as a professor at a teaching institution. The Fellow's project has a large outreach component that engages the public in scientific research through a citizen science project, the Reptiles and Amphibians of Southern California (RASCals). The applicant works closely with the Natural History Museum's Citizen Science Office to train participants in this ongoing data-collection project, and interacts with the public and disseminates results at multiple Museum events. Her research not only uses digital and museum collections, but also adds to them by increasing citizen science involvement and through the continued collection and preservation of reptile specimens at the Museum. Finally, the applicant is gaining experience in the mentoring undergraduates, who assist in museum work, endocrinological assays, and fieldwork, and gaining teaching experience by leading an undergraduate course at UCLA.