NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2020

Janecka, Mary J, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2020, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the Fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Hosts and their parasites are locked into an evolutionary battle: hosts evolve resistance, and parasites evolve to overcome this resistance. How the complexity of the landscape hosts and parasites inhabit affects this coevolution is unknown. Rivers are unique, highly complex ecosystems characterized by branching networks and downstream flow from high to low elevation. By affecting host and parasite population size and genetic diversity, these factors could alter the outcome of host-parasite coevolution. For example, differences between host and parasite in their ability to move upstream will affect the ability of each to evolve in response to the other and could generate localized differences in virulence or drug resistance. Parasites are ubiquitous in river systems, infecting both adjacent human populations and host species of economic and conservation interest. This research, using a well-studied fish and an economically important group of parasites, provides unique insight into the mechanisms shaping parasite ecology, biodiversity and evolution within rivers. Educational outreach will be accomplished through a citizen science program that recruits underrepresented students to STEM disciplines; the study will also inform public health and has direct applications for fisheries management, aquaculture, and wildlife conservation. This research will leverage the Guppy-Gyrodactulus model system in Northern Trinidad to elucidate the interactions between riverine ecosystem processes and host behavior that may shape the co-evolutionary potential of parasite subpopulations across a complex geographic mosaic. At the regional level, the Fellow will use fine-scale field sampling, parasite population genomics data and geospatial analysis across four rivers in Trinidad to test how variation in river architecture and unidirectional stream drift alter the distribution of parasite genetic diversity and population connectivity within and between rivers. At finer scales, the Fellow will test how variation in host social behaviors that differ between upstream and downstream populations can alter the evolutionary potential of local parasite populations. The Fellow will receive training for molecular and analytical skills that are applicable in metozoan parasite systems to address questions at the landscape-host-parasite interface. The Fellow will also recruit undergraduates and high school students (assisted by the Citizen Science Lab in Pittsburgh) to participate in these hypothesis-driven research experiences. 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.