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

这项行动资助了2020财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，综合研究调查了基因组，环境和表型之间的生命相互作用的规则。该研究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，这被称为当地适应。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之间的相互作用在多大程度上塑造了当地的适应性，重点是大的蒿属植物（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，这些修复工作往往失败。该项目将是重要的了解山艾树生态和促进保护工作。研究结果将通过与美国地质调查局的伙伴关系以及研究员编写的图画小说与利益攸关方进行交流。这项工作将吸引不同的本科研究人员在博伊西州立大学的培训计划，同时进一步培训研究员在数学建模和微生物生态学。物种的相互作用可以产生选择，生物选择剂的列入可能会改变有关人口的脆弱性的结论，从检查当地的适应性的基础上单独气候。为了量化鼠尾草-土壤微生物相互作用塑造当地适应的程度，该研究员将构建一个共同的花园实验，将植物种群和土壤转移到气候梯度，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当地适应山艾种群，但健身的影响与环境，人口来源，和人口阶段; 2）包括生物相互作用改变预测人口的增长和敏感性易位，相比那些基于非生物因素。这项工作有可能提高在快速变化的环境中的表型可塑性和种群持久性的高阶模式的理解。为了扩大工作的影响，该研究员将吸引本科生参与研究。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.