Postdoctoral Fellowship: PRFB: Using genomics and simulations to understand divergence and sympatry in island radiations

Gyllenhaal, Ethan F, Albuquerque NM

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2024, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment, and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports the research and training of the fellow who will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Understanding how new species arise and evolve to become different from each other is an essential question of evolution, both to understand how biodiversity was generated in the past and how we can protect species in our changing world. This is especially important on islands, as their isolation and small size mean the species that live there are both unique and often at the greatest risk of extinction. This project aims to understand how these island species form using a group of brightly colored birds: the whistlers. This will not only improve the understanding of how species form in these isolated islands but also better inform the conservation of these unique species. This research will also serve as training for undergraduate students whom the fellow will mentor in techniques used in fieldwork, computation, and scientific writing. The fellow will also perform outreach events based in natural history museums to show the public the importance of these amazing resources and the output of the research conducted there. This project uses a classic system for understanding island evolution, the Fiji Whistler. The applicant chose this species because they are one of the few island systems that display a hybrid zone, a staple in understanding how speciation occurs. This archipelago radiation is also part of a broader phenotypically diverse geographic radiation, which displays little ecological divergence despite high plumage evolution. This project seeks to understand why this phenomenon of island radiations has high plumage divergence and low secondary sympatry. First, it will examine Fiji Whistler’s contact zone to determine the genetic underpinnings of a plumage pattern that varies across the contact zone and genus. It will then take that knowledge to address what rules govern plumage evolution and the outcomes of secondary contact. For the former, comparative genomics will be used to determine if the genes at play in the island contact zone drive plumage evolution broadly in the genus. For the latter, a series of genetic simulations will be used to replicate and modify the observed geographic and genomic patterns to see the conditions necessary to produce successful secondary sympatry. 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.