NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: The mechanisms and evolution of decision-making under conflict: scaling up from molecules to individuals and populations

Barbasch, Tina, Boston MA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, 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. This project seeks to answer a fundamental biological question: how do parents decide how much care to provide to their offspring? Parents can go to incredible lengths to provide care, yet parents are constantly faced with competing demands on their time. For example, parents must decide how much time to invest in caring for offspring versus defending their nest from intruders or courting new mates. Using stickleback fish, where fathers are the sole care providers, this research explores how parents make decisions over when to care, court mates, or defend their territories - decisions that are profoundly important to a parent’s ability to pass on their genes to the next generation. This research will help uncover what happens in the parental brain when these decisions are made and, ultimately, help us understand why some individuals are better at decision-making than others. This project will also provide research opportunities for undergraduates and results will be incorporated into outreach activities at local museums, with a particular focus on broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in science. This project uses an emerging model system for studying behavioral genomics, the three spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), to study the mechanisms and evolution of parental decisions over care, courtship, and territory defense. First, experimental methods will reveal the behavioral decision-making process within individuals, across individuals, and among populations. Second, molecular techniques will uncover the proximate neural, molecular, and hormonal mechanisms by which parents juggle competing demands. Comparing decision-making within and among individuals, as well as across populations will provide insight into the ecological and evolutionary consequences of parental care. Studying the proximate mechanisms will uncover how the brain manages conflicting demands, as well as provide insight into the mechanistic constraints. Together, results will help explain how vital decisions between competing opportunities to increase fitness are made, and more generally, how patterns of behavior emerge from interactions between genomes, environments, and phenotypes. This project will provide valuable training to the Fellow in behavioral genomics. Additionally, results will be broadly disseminated through conferences and outreach activities, and through the development of educational materials for middle and high school students. 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.