REU: Mechanisms of Below-ground Competition in Plants: Linking Form and Function

这项研究将探讨如何形态和 植物细根系统的人口统计学使得 获取两种限制性土壤资源：水和氮。 植物改变细根形态（长度， 宽度，分枝模式，根毛的产生）和 人口统计学（出生、死亡和延长率）被认为 影响到它们遇到和利用土壤的速度 资源 总的假设是， 细根形态和人口调节他们的能力， 获取地下资源，从而争夺这些资源 资源 利用资源补丁的能力 在空间和时间上的变化必须与根的形态联系起来， 动力学 几个具体的假设将在一系列测试 温室实验。 将测量细根动态 使用微型电子管的现场视频成像，并总结了 使用生命表和投影矩阵。 通过改变 水和氮的可用性和空间分布，以及 通过使用15C作为示踪剂，我们将能够测量 细根形态和动态之间的关系， 资源获取 本研究具有新颖性和创新性 因为它利用新技术来了解资源 可用性驱动细根人口统计。 直到现在，实际上 所有的生态学研究要么忽略了细根（a 主要碳汇），或量化它们在一个或一系列的 静态观察 这个项目将取得重大进展 更机械地理解 陆生植物对土壤资源的竞争。

This research will examine how the morphology and demography of the fine root system of plants enables the acquisition of two limiting soil resources: water and nitrogen. The ability of plants to alter fine root morphology (length, width, branching pattern, production of root hairs) and demography (birth, death, and elongation rate) is thought to affect the rate at which then encounter and exploit soil resources. The overall hypothesis is that species differences in fine root morphology and demography regulate their ability to acquire below.ground resources and therefore compete for these resources. The ability to encounterand exploit resource patches that vary in space and time must be linked to root morphology and dynamics. Several specific hypotheses will be tested in a series of greenhouse experiments. Fine root dynamics will be measured using in situ video imaging of minirhizotrons and summarized using life-tables and projection matrices. By varying the availability and spatial distribution of water and nitrogen, and by using 15C as a tracer, we will be able to measure the relationship between fine and root morphology and dynamics and resource acquisition. This research is novel and innovative because it utilizes new technology to understand how resource availability drives fine root demography. Until now, virtually all ecological investigations have either ignored fine roots (a major carbon sink), or quantified them in one or aseries of static observations. This project will make significant progress toward the development of a more mechanistic understanding of competition for soil resources in terrestrial plants.