ABSTRACT

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2015, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow to take transformative approaches to grand challenges in biology that employ biological collections in highly innovative ways. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Russell Ligon is "The evolution of extremes: A novel use of biodiversity media collections to evaluate signal diversification in the birds of paradise." The host institution for this fellowship is Cornell University, and the sponsoring scientists are Mike Webster and Irby Lovette.

Animals use diverse signals to communicate with one another and many species rely on multiple, simultaneously displayed signals to convey information during social interactions. To date, most studies investigating the use of multiple signals have focused on the current function of different signal types, yet a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of multiple signals and the influence of such signals on speciation is largely lacking. The fellowship research uses an integrative approach relying on a combination of biodiversity media collections and traditional museum specimens to investigate the selective pressures favoring multiple signals, how static and plastic signals interact with one another across evolutionary time-scales, and the evolutionary interplay among different signal types. Specifically, it investigates the evolution of color and behavioral signals in birds of paradise (Aves: Paradisaeidae), an avian group that exhibits extreme diversity in both color-based and behavioral signals used during courtship displays. In addition to detailed ethological data collected from biodiversity media located in Cornell University's Macaulay Library, some data on plumage ornamentation are being collected from museum specimens located at the American Museum of Natural History. The combination of data collected from different types of museum specimens informs ancestral-state reconstructions and provides new insights into the evolution of signal design and complexity.

Training goals include gaining expertise in photographic and computational analyses, cutting-edge phylogenetic approaches, ethological quantification methods, and collections-based research. Educational and public outreach are being conducted including open-source educational modules for local outreach groups and available to educators worldwide.

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