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 2020 财年 NSF 生物学博士后研究奖学金，该奖学金旨在调查基因组、环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该奖学金支持研究员的研究和培训，以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。当一个种群比其他地区的种群更适合其原生环境时，这称为局部适应。气候和与其他物种的相互作用等变化可能会改变当地的适应并影响物种的生存。这项研究将调查物种相互作用在多大程度上影响当地的适应，重点关注大型山艾树（Artemisia tridentata）种群和生活在灌木生长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工作。然而，这些恢复努力往往会失败。该项目对于了解山艾树生态和促进保护工作具有重要意义。结果将通过与美国地质调查局的合作以及该研究员开发的图画小说与利益相关者进行沟通。这项工作将让不同的本科生研究人员参与博伊西州立大学的培训计划，同时进一步对研究员进行数学建模和微生物生态学方面的培训。物种相互作用可以产生选择，而生物选择剂的加入可能会改变仅根据气候检查当地适应情况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局部适应的影响程度，该研究员将构建一个常见的花园实验，在气候梯度上转移植物种群和土壤，对微生物群落进行测序，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，但适应性影响因环境、种群起源和人口阶段而异； 2）与仅基于非生物因素的预测相比，生物相互作用的纳入改变了对种群增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。为了扩大这项工作的影响，该研究员将让本科生参与研究。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力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.