NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2020: Biotic drivers of local adaptation: Integrating the evolutionary consequences of plant-soil feedbacks into sagebrush

该行动资助了NSF 2020财年生物学博士后研究奖学金，研究基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该奖学金支持将以创新方式对生活规则领域作出贡献的研究员的研究和培训。当一个种群比来自其他地区的种群更适应其本地环境时，这被称为本地适应。气候变化和与其他物种的相互作用会改变当地的适应能力，影响物种的生存。这项研究将调查物种相互作用在多大程度上影响了当地的适应，重点关注大艾属灌木（Artemisia tridentata）种群和生活在灌木生长的土壤中的微生物群落。大山艾树受到威胁，美国西部大片地区正在进行重新种植的努力。然而，这些恢复努力往往失败。该项目对了解山艾树生态和促进保护工作具有重要意义。研究结果将通过与美国地质调查局的合作伙伴关系以及由该研究员开发的图形小说与利益相关者进行沟通。这项工作将在博伊西州立大学的一个培训项目中吸引不同的本科生研究人员，同时进一步培养数学建模和微生物生态学方面的研究员。物种之间的相互作用可以产生选择，而生物选择因子的加入可能会改变仅根据气候对当地适应性进行研究而得出的关于种群脆弱性的结论。为了量化山艾树与土壤微生物相互作用对当地适应性的影响程度，该研究员将构建一个普通的花园实验，在气候梯度上转移植物种群和土壤，对微生物群落进行排序，并开发一个综合预测模型，利用短期和长期数据来评估生物相互作用对种群增长的影响。本研究将评估以下假设：1)生物相互作用有助于山艾树种群的局部适应，但适应度影响因环境、种群起源和人口统计学阶段而异；2)与仅基于非生物因素的预测相比，包含生物相互作用改变了种群生长和易位敏感性的预测。这项工作有可能提高对快速变化环境中表型可塑性和种群持久性的高阶模式的理解。为了扩大研究的影响，研究员将邀请本科生参与研究。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2020, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. When a population is better suited to its native environment than populations from other areas are, this is called local adaptation. Changes such as climate and interaction with other species can change local adaptation and affect species survival. This research will investigate the extent to which species interactions shape local adaptation, focusing on big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) populations and the microbial communities that live in the soil where the shrub grows. Big sagebrush is threatened, and replanting efforts are being made across a large region of the western US. However, these restoration efforts often fail. This project will be important for understanding sagebrush ecology and promoting conservation efforts. Results will be communicated with stakeholders through partnerships with the US Geological Survey, as well as through a graphic novel developed by the fellow. This work will engage diverse undergraduate researchers in a training program at Boise State University, while furthering the training of the fellow in mathematical modeling and microbial ecology.Species interactions can generate selection, and inclusion of biotic selective agents may alter conclusions about a population’s vulnerability drawn from examining local adaptation based on climate alone. To quantify the extent to which sagebrush-soil microbe interactions shape local adaptation, the fellow will construct a common garden experiment that translocates plant populations and soil across a climatic gradient, sequence microbial communities, and develop an integral projection model that leverages short- and long-term data to assess the influence of biotic interactions on population growth. This research will assess the following hypotheses: 1) Biotic interactions contribute to local adaptation in sagebrush populations, but fitness impacts vary with environment, population origin, and demographic stage; 2) Inclusion of biotic interactions alters predictions of populations’ growth and sensitivity to translocation, compared to those based on abiotic factors alone. This work has the potential to improve the understanding of higher-order patterns of phenotypic plasticity and population persistence in rapidly changing environments. To broaden the impact of the work, the fellow will engage undergraduates in the research.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.