Postdoctoral Fellowship: PRFB: The multigenerational impacts of gene flow from genotype to fitness in a wild pedigreed bird population

About This Grant

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2025. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to biology in innovative ways. Habitat destruction and landscape change can cause populations to decline, reducing genetic variation and increasing extinction risk. One mechanism to help endangered populations survive is through gene flow, when individuals from other populations introduce new genetic variation, potentially boosting genetic diversity and lowering extinction risk. However, the relative importance of key factors driving gene flow such as distance, social dynamics, and population size, are not well understood. In addition, the effects of gene flow on traits, survival, and future population growth remain unclear, as the effects of gene flow can be beneficial, harmful, or even change over time. This project combines genomic, trait, life cycle, and environmental data to improve our understanding of the impacts of gene flow across multiple scales and over time. The goal is to provide useful insights for conservation efforts and help predict future outcomes for at-risk populations. As part of this project, the fellow will create educational materials to teach bioinformatics, making complex genetic concepts and skills more accessible. Gene flow shapes geographic patterns in genotypes, phenotypes, fitness, and population dynamics. This project investigates the multigenerational impacts of gene flow in a wild, pedigreed population of Florida Scrub-Jays at Archbold Biological Station (ABS) with three objectives: (1) determine the factors that drive gene flow from source populations into ABS, (2) identify where in the genome introgressed haplotypes persist and whether their frequency is predominantly driven by drift or selection, and (3) investigate how gene flow impacts phenotypes, fitness, and demography, to predict future trends through simulations. This project will elucidate the causes and consequences of gene flow to lend more predictive power for implementing genetic rescue, a strategy for boosting fitness and population size of endangered populations. The fellow will receive training in pedigree-based population genetics, quantitative genetics, and simulation methods. The broader impacts of this project include informing management and potential genetic rescue of Florida Scrub-Jays and other endangered species alike. The fellow will also lead bioinformatic workshops and participate in local mentorship programs to introduce local high school students to STEM career options, hands-on research experiences, and the ways in which science can have real world implications. 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.