EAPSI: Combining Observational and Experimental Approaches to Understand the Response of Belowground Fungal Communities to Global Change

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This project aims to understand how changes in community interactions above- and below-ground alter ecosystem function. As an example, Arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM) are plant mutualists that help maintain plant function, especially under environmental stress. Little is known about broad-scale diversity patterns of mycorrhizal fungi, which hinders our ability to predict how communities will respond to climatic change. Using an observational and experimental approach this project will explore how climatic change and species interactions alter mycorrhizal community structure and ecosystem function at several sites worldwide. This work will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Jin-Sheng He at Peking University, a world authority in climate change and ecosystem ecology. To understand how above- and below-ground communities will respond to climatic warming, this study will use a series of observational plots as well as a manipulative warming (+2.5 degrees ambient temperature) × dominant plant species removal (to restructure plant communities) experiment along elevational gradients. This study will attempt to answer two main questions: (1) What biotic and abiotic factors structure arbuscular mycorrhizal communities along elevational gradients, and (2) how will these communities respond to warming and changes in plant communities. By combining different sites worldwide, this project will be able to understand common patterns in current and future plant/mycorrhizal distributions worldwide. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.