NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2020

Lucas, Kelsey Noelle, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2020, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports research and training of the Fellow that will utilize biological collections in innovative ways. In fishes, different swimming movements and body shapes (morphologies) likely confer various functional advantages. A major example is the difference between steady and unsteady swimming specialists. Steady specialists, like trout, have streamlined forms that appear to minimize unfavorable forces and are found in areas of open water and high environmental flows. In contrast, unsteady-swimming specialists, like pike or bluegill, have bulkier bodies and fins that appear to maximize forces for short bursts of movement and for rapid turning in low-flow environments with lots of structure (vegetation, etc.). Previous studies indicate that the swimming abilities of unsteady specialists are more negatively affected by environmental flows than those of steady specialists, so it is thought that fish body shape and swimming ability influence fish habitat selection. But, the links between fish form, swimming, and habitat have rarely been formally tested. Temperate lake shorelines provide an excellent system in which to explore these relationships because they harbor a wide variety of fish species and habitats. Shorelines, globally, are one of the most threatened natural systems. So, in addition to providing a fundamental understanding of fish form and function, the Fellow’s findings will help predict how human-driven shoreline change influences fishes, inform lakes conservation programs, and provide habitat guidelines for shoreside construction and restoration. This work will also inform engineering applications by offering solutions for underwater vehicle design challenges. The Fellow will use an interdisciplinary approach to both evaluate the strength of morphology-habitat associations and describe the physical mechanics that underly them, with the following three objectives. (1) Identify the axes of variation of morphology in Michigan inland lake fishes through measurements of museum specimens. (2) Determine how morphological features map to shoreline habitats along a turbulence gradient using ecological models based on specimen and lake survey data. (3) Evaluate the significance of morphology for tolerating environmental flows through hydrodynamic studies of live fishes swimming in flumes. Alongside the Fellow’s training in collections-based functional morphological and ecological modeling methods, the Fellow will recruit and train diverse undergraduate students through independent projects aligned with the Fellow’s work. Synergistic activities will include writing popular press articles, developing lessons for K-12 STEM classrooms, and hosting inquiry-based activities at natural history museums. 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.