NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2022: Mechanisms of phenotypic novelty: biomechanical, sensory, and genetic drivers of ongoing rapid evolution in cricket song

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, 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. Animals have evolved behaviors and morphologies to attract mates.

These traits are often extreme and elaborate, from deer horns and beetle tusks to bird songs and spider dances. Yet, it is not entirely clear how these traits emerge and diversify. This project will leverage a rapidly evolving mate-attraction signal in crickets to understand the physics, physiology, and evolution of these traits.

This study will provide novel and pressing insight into how some of nature’s most charismatic traits evolve in real time. The fellow will amplify their societal impact by developing evolution games for K-12 classrooms, mentoring undergraduates and high schoolers from underrepresented groups, and establishing digital infrastructure for scientists to transparently and equitably recruit undergraduate researchers at the University of Denver.

This will promote equity in STEM by reducing the social capital required to attain undergraduate research positions.

The fellow will integrate computational and experimental tools to elucidate the mechanisms and mechanics of signal evolution in the Hawaiian field cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus. Field crickets sing intense pure-tone songs. In Hawaiian populations, a lethal parasitoid fly (Ormia ochracea) eavesdrops on singing male crickets, imposing a massive fitness cost.

This push-and-pull of naturally selected costs (parasitism) and mating selected benefits have driven the evolution of novel signals that allow covert communication. Indeed, within the last few years, a novel purring cricket morph evolved that attracts female conspecifics but not parasitoid flies. The fellow will 1) perform artificial selection experiments to quantify the genetic architecture of song structure and female preference, 2) build finite element models to determine how acoustic biomechanics generate novel song features, 3) perform physiological assays to test sensory capabilities in females and parasites, and 4) build agent-based models to test how songs evolve as different selection pressures vary.

The fellow will receive training from experts in evolutionary biology, psychoacoustics, and biophysics from the University of Denver, St. Olaf College, and the University of Western Ontario (Canada). The fellow will also develop K-12 educational tools, mentor high school and undergraduate research, and establish lasting infrastructure to promote equity and transparency in undergraduate research opportunities at the University of Denver.

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.