NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2019: Can community assembly theory explain assembly and reassembly in dryland ecosystems?

Slate, Mandy, Missoula MT

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2019, Broadening Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. Understanding how natural communities are structured is a fundamental question in ecology, with important implications for conservation. According to ecological theory, the number of species, and abundance of each species in a community is affected by how species' traits, such as size and growth rate, interact with the environment. This project investigates how precipitation and biological soil crusts (biocrusts are communities of moss, lichen, cyanobacteria and other biota that cover soil surfaces among vascular plants in drylands) influence plant species growing in dryland communities. The research will test ecological theory to determine the factors that influence native and invasive species plant establishment in dryland ecosystems. Throughout this project, the fellow will partner with established programs, focused on increasing the representation of underrepresented groups in science, to train, mentor, and provide independent research experiences for students during the academic year and in summer programs. Specifically, the proposed work will test the ability of using community assembly theory to explain the assembly of native plant communities and predict exotic plant invasions by conducting parallel field experiments in disparate drylands and quantifying relationships between plant traits at the seed and seedling stage and recruitment success while manipulating rainfall and biocrust filters. Understanding how rainfall patterns and biocrusts influence plant establishment will inform directed community reassembly for restoration purposes. Outreach activities include collaboration with the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars program to mentor a diverse cohort of students dedicated to conservation. The fellow will also pair with four existing programs at CU Boulder to provide one-on-one mentoring for undergraduate students from disadvantaged groups and develop research-based educational material for K-12 students to enhance the early exposure of pre-college students to environmental biology. 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.