DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Functional dissimilarity in soil microbial communities

土壤中微生物的活动，如细菌，对土壤肥力至关重要，因此在维持生态系统生产力和结构方面发挥核心作用。土壤正在经历越来越多的侮辱，从入侵物种到土地利用变化。这些侮辱使一组新的植物物种接触到土壤微生物。鉴于土壤微生物的物种丰富性和丰富性，生态学家通常认为微生物群落会迅速适应新的条件，从而根据不断变化的条件保持其基本的生态系统功能。然而，最近的证据表明，就像动物和植物一样，在不同的地点发现了独特的微生物物种。这提出了一种耐人寻味的可能性，即不同地点的微生物物种的功能可能不同。初步工作表明，情况就是这样，这个新项目下的工作将探索这一结果。具体地说，它将使用实验方法来探索当代环境和现有微生物群落在塑造生态系统功能方面所起的作用。人们的期望是，在树木等叶化学成分复杂的植物存在的环境中，群落将变得更加重要。所获得的理解将有助于对土壤肥力和其他生态系统属性将如何随着环境变化而变化的情况进行知情预测。除了培养一名博士生外，这项工作还将培训一名生态学专业的未被充分代表的群体的本科生。这些成果将通过在同行评议的期刊上发表以及在国家会议上作介绍的方式广泛传播。

The activities of microbes in the soil, such as bacteria, are essential for soil fertility and hence play a central role in maintaining ecosystem productivity and structure. Soils are experiencing an increasing number of insults, from invasive species to land-use change. These insults bring a new set of plant species into contact with soil microbes. Given the tremendous species richness and abundance of soil microbes, ecologists typically assume that microbial communities rapidly adapt to new conditions and hence maintain their essential ecosystem functions in light of changing conditions. However, recent evidence suggests that unique sets of microbial species are found in different locations, just as for animals and plants. This presents the intriguing possibility that microbial species in different locations might function differently. Initial work suggests that this is the case and the work under this new project will explore this result. Specifically, it will use an experimental approach to explore the role that both the contemporary environment and extant microbial communities play in shaping ecosystem function. The expectation is that the community will be more important in environments where plants with complex leaf chemistry, such as trees, are present. The understanding gained will facilitate informed prediction of how soil fertility and other ecosystem properties will change in response to a changing environment. As well as training a Ph.D. student, the work will train an undergraduate student from underrepresented groups in ecology. The results will be broadly disseminated via publication in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at national meetings.