CAREER: Ecology and Evolution of Mutualism in Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi

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BEVER - 9985272PROJECT ABSTRACTMutually beneficial interactions between species are very common and of tremendous ecological importance, but are poorly understood relative to other interspecific interactions. Many plant species, for example, take up soil phosphorus, an essential soil mineral, through mutualistic interactions with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. However, the process that maintains this mutualism is poorly understood, and we are therefore unable to predict the response of this mutualism to anthropogenic disturbance. To understand the maintenance of this mutualism, I develop a framework that builds on a plant's ability to influence fungal growth rates through preferential allocation of carbon. This model makes specific predictions about the response of this mutualism to environmental perturbation. I then propose to test this mechanism, as well as its predictions, using a laboratory community of mycorrhizal fungi. These research activities are integrated with a multifaceted approach to enhancing ecology education at the secondary, undergraduate and graduate levels. I do this by (i) facilitating the development of independent research projects on the dynamics within the plant-mycorrhizal fungal interaction, (ii) developing a research-based upper level undergraduate/graduate course on the ecology and evolution of mutualisms, and (iii) developing a unit on ecological researc