NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Extremes in the interplay: the development and effects of gut microorganisms within Earth’s largest terrestrial species

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, 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. The Fellow will study microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, viruses, etc.) living in the gut of African elephant orphans brought to an orphanage in Kenya.

Using dung samples, the Fellow will identify which microorganisms are present within the orphans in order to determine if microorganisms change as the orphans move from the wild to human care and eventually back into the wild. The Fellow will also investigate whether the elephants’ health and behavior change according to which microorganisms are present.

This research will therefore consider how living organisms are unified with other living things that live inside them. The Fellow is likely to discover new microbial species, and conservationists may use this new understanding of microbiome-host dynamics to increase the survival of captive-raised individuals of endangered species when they are released into the wild.

Dissemination of this information will reach a diverse public audience, including through an international collaboration with Kenyans.

Data will be collected from three areas within Samburu, Kenya: the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary (Reteti), Sera Rhino Sanctuary (Sera), and Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserves (the reserves) where a long-term monitoring project of elephants takes place. Dung samples will be collected every two weeks from the orphans beginning at Reteti and after their release into Sera.

Wild elephants in Sera, who have the same environment as the released orphans, and wild elephants of the same age as the orphans at the reserves will also be sampled during the study. These wild elephant dung samples will be used to assess whether orphans can develop microbial communities similar to wild individuals. The Fellow will measure the environment, physiology and behavior of orphans with data including but not limited to body condition scores, diet records, weight records, intestinal worm loads, glucocorticoid levels, focal behavioral follows, and GPS collar fixes.

The Fellow will be trained in laboratory techniques to identify microorganisms and arrange to employ and share these skills at a newly built laboratory in Kenya. The Fellow will lead data collection in collaboration with the sponsoring institution and several Kenyan wildlife organizations, exchanging knowledge and writing papers with Kenyan researchers.

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.