Population
and Evolutionary Processes Cluster
The Population
and Evolutionary Processes Cluster focuses on population properties
that lead to variation within and among populations. Approaches
include empirical and theoretical studies of microevolution, organismal
adaptation, geographical differentiation, natural hybridization
and speciation, as well as processes that lead to macroevolutionary
patterns of trait evolution. The Population and Evolutionary Processes
Cluster funds research in the following areas.
Population
Dynamics: Studies of the demography of age- and stage-structured
populations and of changes in populations, using analytic, stochastic,
or statistical approaches.
Evolutionary
Ecology: Studies of single species from an ecological and evolutionary
perspective including: life history and life cycle phenomena of
terrestrial, freshwater, and wetland organisms; patterns of natural
and sexual selection; causes and consequences of reproductive isolation;
phylogeography; and single-lineage phyletic evolution. Please note
that studies focusing on interactions among species should be directed
to the Ecological Biology Cluster.
Evolutionary
Genetics: Studies of population and quantitative genetics; how
micro- and macro-evolutionary processes, including epigenetics and
development, explain the evolution of complex phenotypes.
Molecular
Population Biology: Studies of the causes and consequences of
variation, change, selection, and evolution of biochemical characteristics,
RNA and DNA sequences, and mobile elements; how the properties of
genes (number, arrangement, and pattern) and their interactions
determine evolutionary processes; the evolution of genetic architecture;
and evolutionary genomics.
Inter- and
multi-disciplinary proposals that fall across traditional programmatic
boundaries are welcomed and encouraged. The Population and Evolutionary
Processes cluster has a long history of co-reviewing such proposals
with other NSF programs. Studies focusing on organism-centered analyses
of physiology, morphology, behavior, or development should be directed
to programs in the Division of Integrative Biology and Neuroscience
(IBN). Studies of the population ecology of marine organisms should
be directed to the Biological Oceanography Program in the Division
of Ocean Sciences.
Cluster
Contact Information
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