This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) will fund a 5-year collaborative research study on the role of microbial symbionts in influencing host plant fitness and population dynamics. The $188,491 award was made to the University of New Mexico to investigate how fluctuations in the benefits provided by fungal endophytes to their grass host plants vary over time, potentially stabilizing host populations and promoting genetic...
This $687,357 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) supports research to study repeated evolution in a diverse group of alpine beetles. The researchers will explore whether natural selection has acted on the same molecular pathways as species adapted to alpine environments during past climate cycles. Comparative genomic and stress tolerance experiments will test for evidence of repeated evolution and identify the genetic mechanisms...
This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) supports research and training at the University of Florida (UF) to revise the taxonomy and document the interactions of pinhole borer beetles and their symbiotic fungi. The $900,006 award will fund a comprehensive 4-year effort to identify, classify, and describe these understudied wood-boring organisms, which can become pests. The project will use DNA sequencing, microscopy, and...
The National Science Foundation awarded a two-year, $138,000 Project Grant to support research titled "Inference of the Repeated Evolution of Prothoracic Defensive Glands in the Tenebrionidae (Coleoptera)." The grant falls under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) and will fund research from January 2022 through December 2023. The goal of this research is to advance scientific understanding of the evolution of defensive glands in darkling beetles through analysis of their...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant award under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) provides $251,181 to Youngstown State University to explore the neurological mechanisms underlying reproductive behaviors in biparental burying beetles. The project aims to understand how neurotransmitters like dopamine influence the beetles' ability to exhibit flexible caregiving behavior and coordinate parenting tasks. Through a combination of neurochemical, molecular, and...
This $223,991 project grant from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) will fund research examining seed-fungal interactions and their influence on tropical tree recruitment. Over a four-year period ending in February 2027, the University of Arizona will investigate how seed chemistry, environmental conditions, and genetic factors determine outcomes of seed-fungal relationships in tropical forests. Researchers will use metabolomics and assays to study seed...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) Project Grant award of $240,000 provides funding for a 3-year postdoctoral research fellowship. The grant supports an investigation into the role of transcriptional plasticity in insect host specialization, focused on two species of pine sawfly. The research aims to identify the genes that allow insects to adapt to changes in their environment, which is important for understanding how organisms survive and adapt...
This National Science Foundation Project Grant award of $690,347 will fund research into the phylogeny and biogeography of the tiger beetle tribe Manticorini under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074). Northern Arizona University will conduct fieldwork to sample populations of Manticorine tiger beetles across the ranges of currently proposed U.S. species and subspecies. High-throughput DNA sequencing using an ultraconserved element probe set designed for beetles will be employed to...
This $290,025 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) supports research to develop new methods for detecting eukaryotic symbionts associated with insects. The primary awardee, the University of Iowa, will use the funding to: 1) design PCR blocking primers to inhibit amplification of insect DNA while allowing detection of other eukaryotic organisms, and 2) conduct large-scale surveys of insect-symbiont diversity across two...
This $240,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) Project Grant award, with a performance period from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2027, will fund a postdoctoral research fellowship to investigate the role of symbiosis in driving the evolution and diversification of Hawaiian cixiid planthoppers. The research aims to leverage the unique geography and biodiversity of Hawaii to understand how microbial partnerships may contribute to host species diversity...