CAREER: Ecology and Evolution of Mutualism in Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi

物种之间互惠互利的相互作用是非常普遍的，具有巨大的生态意义，但相对于其他种间相互作用，人们对此知之甚少。例如，许多植物物种通过与丛枝菌根真菌的相互作用来吸收土壤磷，这是一种基本的土壤矿物质。然而，维持这种互惠关系的过程人们知之甚少，因此我们无法预测这种互惠关系对人为干扰的反应。为了理解这种互惠关系的维持，我开发了一个框架，它建立在植物通过优先分配碳来影响真菌生长速度的能力的基础上。这个模型对这种互惠关系对环境扰动的反应做出了具体的预测。然后，我建议使用菌根真菌的实验室群落来测试这一机制及其预测。这些研究活动与多方面的方法相结合，以加强中学、本科生和研究生的生态教育。我通过(I)促进植物-菌根真菌相互作用中动力学的独立研究项目的发展，(Ii)开发一个以研究为基础的关于互惠共生的生态学和进化的本科生/研究生课程，以及(Iii)建立一个生态研究单元来实现这一点

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