Small-scale nutrient heterogeneity and root competition in a community context

在许多植物群落中，最重要的相互作用发生在地下。在这里，高达80%的植物质量位于根，这些根在决定植物群落中物种的组成和多样性方面发挥着重要作用。了解地下社区结构和根竞争机制一直受到阻碍，到目前为止，无法确定根的物种。 这项研究将开发DNA标记，以确定物种和量化它们在混合根样本的丰度。 这些标记将在一系列实验中得到验证，这些实验解决了根系竞争，特别是空间斑块资源的竞争，如何影响单个植物的觅食行为以及混合物中物种的多样性和相对丰度的基本问题。开发的分子方法将为其他需要了解植物群落地下结构的研究提供必要的工具。这项工作将通过汇集生态学和基因组学专业的教师来加强跨学科伙伴关系。此外，四名学生，三名本科生和一名研究生，将进行原创性研究。

In many plant communities, the most important interactions occur below ground. It is here that up to 80% of the plant mass is located, as roots, and these roots play a significant role in determining the composition and diversity of species in plant communities. Understanding belowground community structure and the mechanisms of root competition has been hampered, to date, by the inability to identify roots by species. This research will develop DNA markers to identify species and quantify their abundance in mixed root samples. These markers will be validated in a set of experiments addressing fundamental questions about how root competition, particularly for spatially patchy resources, affects individual plant foraging behavior and the diversity and relative abundance of species in mixtures.The molecular methods developed will provide essential tools for other research that requires an understanding of belowground structure in plant communities. This work will strengthen interdisciplinary partnerships by bringing together faculty specializing in ecology and genomics. Also, four students, three undergraduates and one graduate student, will conduct original research.