CAREER: Linking macroecology and traits to predict mycorrhizal fungal dispersal

植物很少单独生活。事实上，地球上的所有植物都与各种微生物密切相关，这些微生物极大地影响了植物的健康。因此，与植物相关的微生物群落可能会对农业、林业和生态系统产生重大影响。菌根真菌是最常见的有益真菌之一，它挖掘土壤养分，并将其输送给植物以换取糖。然而，它们对植物的影响取决于存在的真菌物种的类型。环境因素和扩散决定了微生物群落结构，但对微生物如何远距离扩散知之甚少。这个职业奖结合了多种方法，利用数据科学、实验室和国家生态观测网络(NEON)的大规模野外实验来研究真菌的传播。这项提议将让高中生参与科学活动，并改善生态数据科学方面的研究生教育。最后，这个项目将研究限制少数族裔学生参与生态的障碍，以制定改善招募和保留的建议。近100年来，“无处不在”的假说一直主导着微生物生态学，表明微生物的传播是无限的，群落组装机制主要是确定性的。然而，某些真菌在可能影响其远距离传播能力的特征方面有所不同。将特征知识与支配运动的物理规律结合起来，可以提供一个强大的框架来预测扩散，这是生物地理学的一个关键组成部分。丛枝菌根(AM)真菌不形成地上结构，通过具有显著不同特征(如大小、表面装饰)的无性孢子繁殖，这可能会影响远距离传播。AM真菌扩散的机制和程度尚不清楚，然而，为了管理AM真菌群落以改善共生功能，需要关于扩散能力的分类单元特定信息。本研究将基于性状的生态学、宏观生态学和物理规律相结合，通过以下研究目标来研究AM真菌的空中扩散：1.建立AM真菌性状数据库，以检验所有可能促进AM真菌空中扩散的孢子性状的系统发育群之间的保守性；2.检查霓虹灯和芝加哥市区的AM真菌的群落结构和孢子特征，以确定预测AM真菌空中扩散的生态气候特性；3.将观测到的AM真菌的末端速度与Stokes定律预测的具有不同形态特征的AM真菌孢子的平滑球体运动的末端速度进行比较。这一职业奖项将阐明到目前为止，扩散在推动微生物生物地理学中大陆尺度模式方面的推测性作用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Plants rarely live in isolation. In fact, all plants on Earth live in close association with diverse microorganisms that greatly impact plant health. As a result, the microbial communities that associate with plants can have large implications for agriculture, forestry, and ecosystems. Mycorrhizal fungi are among the most common beneficial fungi, mining soil nutrients and delivering them to plants in exchange for sugars. However, the impact they have on plants depends on the type of fungal species present. Environmental factors and dispersal determine microbial community structure, but little is known about how microbes disperse long distances. This CAREER award combines multiple approaches using data science, laboratory, and large-scale field experiments at the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) to study fungal dispersal. This proposal will involve high school students in science activities and improve graduate education in ecological data science. Finally, this project will study barriers that limit the participation of minority students in ecology to develop recommendations to improve recruiting and retention.For nearly 100 years, the "everything is everywhere" hypothesis has dominated microbial ecology, suggesting that microbial dispersal is unlimited and community assembly mechanisms are primarily deterministic. However, certain fungi vary with respect to traits that could impact their long-distance dispersal capabilities. Coupling knowledge of traits with physical laws that govern movement could provide a powerful framework to predict dispersal, a key component of biogeography. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi form no aboveground structures, and reproduce via asexual spores with substantially varying traits (e.g. size, surface ornamentation) that are likely to impact long-distance dispersal. The mechanisms and extent of AM fungal dispersal are poorly understood, yet, to manage AM fungal communities for improved symbiotic functioning, taxon-specific information regarding dispersal capabilities is required. This study combines trait-based ecology, macroecology, and physical laws to study aerial dispersal of AM fungi through the following research objectives: 1. Create an AM fungal trait database to examine conservatism among phylogenetic groups in all spore traits that potentially facilitate aerial dispersal, 2. Examine community structure and spore traits of aerial AM fungi at NEON sites and Chicago urban sites to identify eco-climatic properties that predict aerial dispersal, and 3. Compare the observed terminal velocity to that predicted by Stokes's Law for movement of a smooth sphere for AM fungal spores with different morphological traits. This CAREER award will illuminate the thus far speculative role of dispersal in driving continent-scale patterns in microbial biogeography.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.