NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Climate adaptation in the willow flycatcher

Turbek, Sheela, Fort Collins CO

Investigators

Abstract

Fellow's name: Sheela Phansalkar Turbek Proposal number: 2208881 Research title: Integrating genotype, phenotype, and environmental data to assess evolutionary response to climate change in a migratory bird Sponsoring scientist(s) and host institution(s): Kristen Ruegg, Colorado State University This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, 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. Climate change is disrupting the seasonal behavior and reproductive activities of many species, driving some organisms to the brink of extinction. Species may respond to a changing climate by shifting their distribution to escape warming temperatures or remaining in place and adapting to altered environmental conditions. This study takes advantage of modern and historical specimens of the willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii), a threatened migratory bird, to study how populations have adapted at a genetic level to warming conditions since the early 1900s and whether the extent of past adaptation to climate change could explain recent population declines. This project will improve the ability of researchers to accurately predict species responses to environmental change and incorporate this information into management decisions to mitigate widespread population declines. To increase the impact of this research, the fellow will conduct local outreach with Title I schools in Colorado, develop bilingual, open-source evolution teaching materials, and assist with international genomics workshops in Latin America. The study will combine relative abundance information and genomic sequencing data from contemporary and historical willow flycatchers to investigate the relationships among genetic variation in fitness-related traits (i.e., a species’ adaptive potential), climate adaptation, and population trajectories over the last century. The fellow will first use emerging methods in environmental, phenotypic, and genomic data analysis to identify regions of the genome that are associated with climate adaptation and climate-linked traits (body and bill size). Next, the fellow will track whether allele frequencies at climate- and phenotype-associated genomic regions have tracked shifts in climate over the past century. Finally, the fellow will evaluate whether the extent of past climate tracking through shifts in allele frequencies predicts patterns of relative abundance over time. The fellow will receive training from experts in conservation genomics and curriculum development at Colorado State University to effectively communicate scientific findings and engage students from underrepresented backgrounds in the scientific process. 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.