Dissertation Research: The biotic environment and the context-dependent nature of plant-microbial symbiosis

植物体内通常含有各种各样的微生物。 植物和这些微生物共生体之间的相互作用影响陆生植物群落的多样性、结构和功能。 在许多这样的相互作用中，微生物为宿主植物提供营养素，以换取来自植物的碳。 丛枝菌根真菌是一种专门获取磷的土壤真菌，根瘤菌是一种固氮土壤细菌，是豆科植物的两种常见营养植物共生体。 这些共生体中的每一种对它们的植物伴侣有益或拮抗的方式各不相同，部分取决于土壤养分水平。 此外，工厂可以将资源分配给多个合作伙伴，允许同时存在的相互作用影响相互作用的成本和收益。 该项目评估了生物（即共生体）和非生物（即土壤养分水平）因素对植物-微生物相互作用后果的相对重要性。大多数关于植物-微生物相互作用的研究集中在单一宿主和单一共生体上。 然而，在自然界中，植物同时与许多共生体相互作用。 该项目通过实验研究了自然植物-微生物相互作用这一特征的重要性。 该项目的成果适用于许多生态恢复目标。 由于其固氮能力，豆科植物是植物群落的重要成员，并且通常是恢复管理中的优先物种。 许多恢复项目开始在农业后的领域。 虽然自然地区的土壤往往养分有限，但受干扰的环境往往受到人类学养分沉积的高度影响。 因此，该项目通过揭示非自然营养水平和土壤群落的豆类-根瘤菌相互作用的后果来帮助恢复工作的成功。 我们将把这个项目的工作纳入当地儿童科学博物馆的一个特别项目，阐明地下生物过程和有机体。

Plants often harbor a wide variety of microbial organisms within their bodies. Interactions between plants and these microbial symbionts influence the diversity, structure, and function of terrestrial plant communities. In many such interactions the microbe provides host plants with nutrients in exchange for carbon from the plant. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, a soil fungus that specializes in the acquisition of phosphorus, and rhizobia, a nitrogen-fixing soil bacterium are two common nutritional plant symbionts of legume plants. The manner in which each of these symbionts benefits or antagonizes their plant partner varies and is partially determined by soil nutrient levels. Moreover, plants can allocate resources to multiple partners, allowing for the presence of simultaneous interactions to influence the costs and benefits of the interaction. This project evaluates the relative importance of biotic (i.e. co-occurring symbionts) and abiotic (i.e. soil nutrient levels) factors on the consequences of plant-microbial interactions.The majority of investigations on plant-microbial interactions have focused a single host and a single symbiont. Yet in nature plants simultaneously interact with many symbionts. This project experimentally examines the importance of this feature of natural plant-microbe interactions. Results of this project are applicable to many goals of ecological restoration. Because of their ability to fix nitrogen, legumes are important members of plant communities, and are often priority species in restoration management. Many restoration projects begin in post-agricultural fields. While the soils of natural areas are often nutrient limited, disturbed environments are often subjected to high levels of anthropological nutrient deposition. Thus this project aids the success of restoration efforts by shedding light onto the consequences of both unnatural nutrient levels and the soil community the legume-rhizobia interactions. We will incorporate work from this project into a special program at a local children's science museum that elucidates below-ground biological process and organisms.