Postdoctoral Fellowship: PRFB: Testing a role for interspecific interactions in signal evolution, speciation, and sympatry in birds

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2025. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to biology in innovative ways. In tropical areas with thousands of species, many different birds coexist in the same environment. These species often look remarkably different, exhibiting a variety of colors and patterns that distinguish them to human viewers and to one another. Plumage colors act as species-specific “identifiers” which enable birds to recognize and choose mates from their own species instead of others. This mate choice allows different birds to coexist in the same place as distinct species. The project explores the evolutionary history and genetic basis of vibrant plumage coloration in one group of tropical birds (tanagers), to understand species formation and coexistence. Simultaneously, the fellow will contribute to the growth and modernization of natural history museums by developing exhibits on bird color and sensory biology; creating publicly available 3D digital images of the oldest and most priceless specimens; and mentoring junior scientists at Louisiana State University. To elucidate the geography of signal trait (color) evolution and the role of interspecific interactions in trait evolution and the transition to sympatry, the fellow will explore two major aims using one subfamily of tanagers (Thraupinae) as a representative clade. 1) With a microevolutionary population genomic approach, the fellow will address whether a single divergently colored plumage patch differentiated in allopatry or due to interspecific interactions in parapatry in one hybridizing species complex within the focal clade. This project will also improve our knowledge of the genetic underpinnings of structural color, a widespread but poorly understood phenotype. 2) Scaling up to a comparative phylogenomic approach, the fellow will evaluate a macroevolutionary role for interspecific interactions in signal trait evolution. This project integrates whole-genome sequences with whole-body plumage phenotypes to investigate relationships among geographic coexistence, color divergence, introgression histories, and positive selection on known color-associated genes. Importantly, by scanning for historical introgression in sympatric species, this project will improve our ability to predict the outcomes of active parapatric hybrid zones, which are common in birds and many other taxa. Through this work, the fellow will develop advanced bioinformatic/coding skills and professional collaborations bridging genomics, phenotype evolution, and ecological assembly. 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.