Postdoctoral Fellowship: PRFB: Disentangling the tree of life: the role of symbiosis in host diversification

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2024, 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. Many animals rely on microbial partners to carry out key biological functions.

However, it remains unclear how these partnerships may contribute to host species diversity. This research leverages the unique geography and diversity of Hawaii to understand what role microbes play in shaping host diversity across multiple scales. Two groups of related insects are found in Hawaii yet one group holds much more species diversity than the other.

Despite this, both groups contain species adapted to lava tube caves. The parallel histories of these two groups provide a strong framework for a new model system for the study of symbiosis. This project will produce genomic data of hosts and symbionts.

Field work will involve diversity surveys in Hawaii where biodiversity loss is occurring at an alarming rate. This field work will also include surveys of the culturally important lava tube caves. This place-based research provides the fellow with professional development and training that emphasizes integrating local cultural perspectives with scientific research. The fellow will also gain experience in mentoring students in scientific research.

This project will leverage the geotemporal history of the Hawaiian Islands to take a comparative approach to investigate the role of symbiotic interactions in driving the evolution of Hawaiian cixiid planthoppers across several biological scales. Combining field- and museum-based collections, the fellow will carry out Ultra-Conserved Element sequencing and phylogenomics of Hawaiian cixiid planthoppers to assess the history and timing of island colonization and cave adaptation, and test for differences in diversification rates between the two disparately diverse planthopper genera Oliarus and Iolania.

To understand the role of symbiosis in promoting diversification, the fellow will perform metagenomic sequencing and profile microbial communities to assess shifts in symbiont community composition and changes to the functional repertoire of different obligate symbionts, providing insights into the chronology of such shifts in light of host diversity. The fellow will receive training to develop skills in biological collections and comparative genomic and bioinformatic analyses, collaborate with museums and local stakeholders, and participate in coursework and mentorship supporting broadening participation in evolutionary biology research.

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.