Collaborative Research: Functional Significance of "Dark Septate" Endophytes in Grassland and Meadow Ecosystems of Western North America

合作研究：北美西部草原和草甸生态系统中“暗隔膜”内生菌的功能意义

• 批准号: 0343919
• 负责人: David Myrold
• 金额: $ 29.93万
• 依托单位: Oregon State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-04-01 至 2008-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0343919&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Functional; Significance; Dark

Plant roots provide a nutrient-rich environment for a variety of fungi. These fungi participate in several ecosystem functions: decomposition of dead material, facilitation of plant nutrient uptake, and a food source for terrestrial animals. This research program focuses on a new group of root-associated fungi. These fungi appear extremely common in many ecosystems, yet their function has remained beyond the scope of previous investigations. This research program aims to determine whether the target fungi are common throughout North American grasslands, whether the same fungi occur in different grasslands, and what is their function. A combination of microscopic and microbiological techniques will be used to estimate the abundance of the organisms and to identify the common players across the grasslands. Once a selection of the most common fungi has been established sources of nutrients, which the fungi can utilize will be determined. Based on these results the role of these fungi in aiding plant nutrient use will be determined. Understanding the function of these root-associated fungi is crucial as they may be key players in plant performance and allow access to nutrient sources otherwise not available to the plants. Accordingly, these fungi may become an important option for biofertilization in low impact or organic agriculture. The proposed research has also a significant training component: one post-doc, two graduate students and at least two undergraduate students will be involved. The proposed studies will establish a new and innovative research collaboration between a molecular ecologist at Kansas State University and ecosystem ecologist (Myrold) at Oregon State University.

植物根系为各种真菌提供了营养丰富的环境。这些真菌参与了几种生态系统功能：分解死亡物质，促进植物营养吸收，以及陆地动物的食物来源。这个研究项目的重点是一组新的根相关真菌。这些真菌在许多生态系统中非常常见，但它们的功能仍然超出了以前研究的范围。该研究项目旨在确定目标真菌是否在整个北美草原上都很常见，相同的真菌是否出现在不同的草原上，以及它们的功能是什么。显微和微生物技术的结合将用于估计生物的丰度，并确定草原上的共同参与者。一旦确定了最常见真菌的营养来源，就可以确定真菌可以利用的营养来源。根据这些结果，将确定这些真菌在帮助植物养分利用中的作用。了解这些根相关真菌的功能是至关重要的，因为它们可能是植物生长的关键参与者，并允许植物获得其他植物无法获得的营养来源。因此，这些真菌可能成为低影响或有机农业生物施肥的重要选择。拟议的研究也有一个重要的培训组成部分：一名博士后，两名研究生和至少两名本科生将参与。拟议的研究将在堪萨斯州立大学的分子生态学家和俄勒冈州立大学的生态系统生态学家（Myrold）之间建立一个新的创新研究合作。