NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: How does arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi impact pollination and plant fitness in an anthropogenically disturbed environment?

这一行动为NSF 2021财年生物学博士后研究奖学金提供了资金，综合研究调查了支配基因组、环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则。该奖学金支持研究员的研究和培训，这些研究员将以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。这项研究将集中在植物、传粉者和土壤中的丛枝菌根真菌之间的相互作用。植物-传粉者的互惠关系可能会在数十年的人为干扰后发生变化，比如露天采矿。生长在受采矿污染的土壤中的植物可能缺乏投资于吸引传粉者的花卉特征所需的资源。然而，丛枝菌根真菌的存在可以减轻土壤污染对诱人性状的负面影响。在已复垦的露天矿山中，植物-丛枝菌根真菌和植物-传粉者互惠作用之间的相互作用在很大程度上仍未被探索。这项研究将阐明丛枝菌根真菌如何促进诱人的花卉性状和传粉者访问，这反过来又有助于植物的持久性。这位研究员将在许多场所传播这些成果，从全国性的会议到俄亥俄州立大学的学生领导的科学俱乐部。此外，研究结果将被用于为本科生物学课程设计客座讲座和带有定量和主动学习成分的实验室模块；通过这项研究，研究员将指导来自代表性不足群体的本科生。鉴于人为干扰对自然环境的广泛影响，理解互助者在缓解这些干扰的负面影响方面所起的作用对研究人员和生态学专业的学生来说是一堂关键的课。研究有两个目的。第一个是描述10种植物的丛枝菌根真菌互惠共生体，反映了野生动物的植物多样性，这是一个位于俄亥俄州坎伯兰的自然保护公园，有露天采矿的历史。第二个目的是确定：1)丛枝菌根真菌是否促进了一种植物的诱人花卉性状，从而增加了传粉者的访问和植物的适合度；2)真菌是否通过促进物候、颜色、气味和花蜜数量等花卉性状来缓解人为干扰对植物-传粉者互惠共生的负面影响。据推测，种植丛枝菌根真菌的植物将具有更诱人的花部特征、更高的传粉者访问量和更高的适合度，因此当土壤受到污染时，影响将是最大的。此外，客座讲座和实验模块将按照最佳教学实践进行规划，以增加课堂的公平性和包容性。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。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, 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. The research will focus on mutualistic interactions between plants, pollinators, and soil-dwelling arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. The plant-pollinator mutualism may be altered decades after anthropogenic disturbances, like surface mining. Plants growing in soils contaminated by mining may lack the resources needed to invest in floral traits attractive to pollinators. However, the presence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi could lessen the negative effects of soil contamination on attractive traits. Interactions between the plant-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant-pollinator mutualisms in reclaimed surface mines remain largely unexplored. This research will illuminate how arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi promote attractive floral traits and pollinator visitation, which in turn contribute to plant persistence. The Fellow will disseminate the outcomes in many venues, from national meetings to student-led science clubs at The Ohio State University. Additionally, the outcomes will be used to design guest lectures and a lab module with quantitative and active learning components for undergraduate biology courses; through the research, the Fellow will mentor undergraduate students from underrepresented groups. Given the extensive impacts of anthropogenic disturbances on natural environments, understanding the role that mutualists play in alleviating the negative effects of these disturbances is a key lesson for researchers and students of ecology alike.The research has two aims. The first is to characterize the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal mutualists of ten plant species reflective of the plant diversity at The Wilds, a conservation park with a history of surface mining in Cumberland, Ohio. The second aim is to determine: 1) whether arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi promote attractive floral traits of one of the focal plant species and subsequently increase pollinator visitation and plant fitness and 2) whether the fungi mitigate the negative effect of anthropogenic disturbance on the plant-pollinator mutualism via the promotion of floral traits like phenology, color, scent, and nectar quantity. It is hypothesized that plants growing with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi will have more attractive floral traits, higher pollinator visitation, and higher fitness such that the effect will be greatest when soil contamination is also present. In addition, the guest lectures and lab module will be planned with the best pedagogical practices for increasing equity and inclusion in the classroom.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.