COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Can microbial symbionts mediate effects of climate change on the functioning of an ecosystem engineer?

合作研究：微生物共生体可以调节气候变化对生态系统工程师功能的影响吗？

• 批准号: 0919093
• 负责人: Sarah Emery
• 金额: $ 24.52万
• 依托单位: University of Louisville Research Foundation Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2012-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0919093&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; microbial; symbionts; mediate

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Accurate predictions of community and ecosystem responses to climate change will require identifying not only the direct effects of altered climate on species, but also the indirect effects that occur through biotic interactions or as a result of species impacts on the environment. Those indirect effects may be particularly important for species that modify physical habitat structure. For plants, microbial symbionts have strong potential to mediate plant responses to climate change. This project will compare the relative importance of abiotic and biotic controls on the ways that Ammophila breviligulata (American beach grass) modifies its environment in Great Lakes dune systems. Ammophila breviligulata stabilizes moving sand through prolific root production during the early stages of dune succession, and thus is considered an important ecosystem engineer. Increased summer droughts resulting from climate change may reduce the capacity of A. breviligulata to bind sand and stabilize dunes. However, A. breviligulata hosts a symbiotic fungal endophyte in its leaves and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in its roots, which may improve tolerance to drought, alter root architecture, and thus enhance soil stability. Using a combination of lab and field experiments and broad geographic surveys, this study will test whether a microbial symbiosis can mediate effects of climate change on the functioning of an ecosystem engineer. This work will increase knowledge of non-agronomic plant symbionts, with direct application for improving dune restorations in the Great Lakes and Atlantic Coast, as well as for managing invasive populations of A. breviligulata on the West Coast. Underrepresented minorities will be recruited through the NSF AGEP program, providing research experiences for economically disadvantaged students in an EPSCoR state. K-12 education will also be enhanced by providing high school student research opportunities and a national teacher workshop.

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。准确预测群落和生态系统对气候变化的反应不仅需要确定气候变化对物种的直接影响，还需要确定通过生物相互作用或物种对环境的影响而产生的间接影响。这些间接影响可能对改变自然栖息地结构的物种特别重要。对植物而言，微生物共生体在调节植物对气候变化的响应方面具有很强的潜力。该项目将比较非生物控制和生物控制的相对重要性，在五大湖沙丘系统中，美国海滩草（amophila breviligulata）改变其环境的方式。在沙丘演替的早期阶段，短叶蝉通过大量的根系生产来稳定流沙，因此被认为是一个重要的生态系统工程师。气候变化导致的夏季干旱增加可能会降低短叶松束缚沙子和稳定沙丘的能力。然而，短叶菊的叶片中有共生内生真菌，根系中有丛枝菌根真菌，这可能提高耐旱性，改变根系结构，从而增强土壤稳定性。通过结合实验室和野外实验以及广泛的地理调查，本研究将测试微生物共生是否可以调节气候变化对生态系统工程师功能的影响。这项工作将增加对非农业植物共生体的认识，直接应用于改善五大湖和大西洋沿岸的沙丘恢复，以及管理西海岸的A. breviligulata入侵种群。代表性不足的少数族裔将通过NSF AGEP项目招募，为EPSCoR州的经济困难学生提供研究经验。K-12教育也将通过提供高中学生研究机会和全国教师讲习班来加强。