NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2018

Card Daren, Arlington TX

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2018, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports research and training of the Fellow that will utilize biological collections in innovative ways. The Fellow's research will focus on better understanding how the loss of an important and complex trait 'limbs' occurs in a group of Australian lizards that are adapted to sandy environments. This work will provide the most thorough study of limb morphology patterns across this large group of species using dozens of existing museum specimens. The research will also leverage developmental data and genetic information to begin to understand the molecular mechanisms that cause changes in limb shape. The Fellow will gather most of these data during an extended visit to the South Australian Museum in Adelaide, Australia and Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin, Germany. The Fellow will also gain experience mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, including individuals from underrepresented groups. Public and educational outreach will also be pursued through the production of teaching lessons for high school and college students that convey fundamental biological concepts in genetics, development, and evolution. The evolution of limb loss is an important adaptive transition among animals. How such complex traits evolve, and how and why they are evolutionarily plastic in some lineages, remain fundamental questions in biology. Limb reduction or loss has also occurred numerous times in tetrapods, most frequently among lineages of squamate reptiles. This raises the question of whether adaptive traits are constrained and canalized in vertebrates, leading to convergent phenotypic and molecular patterns across limbless taxa. This project will address these important evolutionary questions by studying limb reduction and loss within a genus of Australian lizards (Lerista) by testing hypotheses about the genetic underpinnings of limb morphology and patterns of morphological, genetic, and developmental evolutionary convergence. The Fellow will use an integrative approach combining morphological, developmental, and genomic data to (1) discern the number of independent morphotype series present in Lerista, (2) characterize the anatomical and molecular signatures associated with pentadactyl limb development within this genus, (3) identify the putative molecular bases of limb reduction within this clade, and (4) resolve the degree of morphological and molecular convergence mediating parallel limb evolution. The Fellow will be trained in gathering morphological and developmental data, will significantly extend his genomics knowledge and skillset, and will be provided opportunities to mentor and educate younger scientists and students in the life sciences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.