NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2020: Cryoconite hole community dynamics on Tibetan debris-covered glaciers

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2020, Broadening Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. The focus of this research is to increase the understanding of the physical and ecological role of melt-holes on debris-covered glaciers in Tibet.

These water-filled habitats are surrounded by a sea of ice and they expand, contract, and disappear with unpredictable timing. The fellow will compare the physical appearance, water chemistry, and biodiversity of invertebrates, bacteria, fungi, algae and mosses in melt holes on glaciers that are either pristine or debris covered. The fellow will study how melt holes develop with time-lapse photography and how communities within the melt holes respond to environmental factors.

The research will lead to a better understanding of the causes of glacier melting. The fellow will also engage in outreach activities to increase involvement of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) individuals in environmental science and ecology, as attracting and retaining DHH individuals is a longstanding issue in STEM fields. Outreach activities include: 1) introducing environmental science and ecology through teaching demonstrations for DHH high school students in the United States and China; 2) surveying professional organizations with internship programs targeting underrepresented students to help them improve their ability to serve DHH individuals; and 3) developing a professional network website that will connect DHH students with potential mentors and established DHH scientists with collaborators.

The goal is to document spatiotemporal changes in community structure within cryoconite holes on debris-covered glaciers in southeastern Tibet. The approaches include: 1) conducting linear mixed effect model analyses to determine if physical habitat, water chemistry, and community structure differ among cryoconite holes on clean or debris-covered glacier surfaces; 2) using time-lapse photography and similar methods to determine if community structure changes temporally and spatially; and 3) conducting multiple linear regression and canonical correspondence analyses to identify the abiotic factors having the greatest influence on community structure.

The research will provide the fellow with training in next generation sequencing to examine microbial communities, bioinformatics, and statistical analysis of time series and GIS spatial data. The DHH outreach activities will provide the fellow with the experiences needed to become a mentor for DHH university students studying environmental science and ecology.

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.