NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: The invasive tradeoffs hypothesis: how does wetland plant removal affect microbial and nutrient linkages

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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. This project addresses the problem of invasive wetland plants. These destructive, non-native plants have caused significant harm to wetlands by replacing native species and degrading habitat for birds, fish, insects, and people. However, invasive plants can also provide benefits, such as reducing erosion, taking up carbon, and removing pollutants. The goal of this project is to improve management of wetlands by comparing the costs and benefits of invasive plant removal. The work focuses on the Great Salt Lake wetlands of Utah, where the invasive reed Phragmites australis has invaded over 26,000 acres. Costly and disruptive techniques are used for its control, including herbicides, grazing, bulldozing, and burning. This research will use advanced biogeochemical, hydrological, and microbial techniques to provide a holistic assessment of the pros and cons of Phragmites removal. It will broaden participation for students underrepresented in science with hands-on research experiences. This project investigates the effect of environmental perturbations associated with Phragmites invasion and control measures on microbial gene expression and community function. The proposed work will identify how gene expression is related to environmental factors, including invasive species and human management. While the project focuses on Phragmites in wetlands, the invasive tradeoff hypothesis and the multi-scale methodology used to test it will provide a scalable framework for characterizing ecosystem interactions among the microbial community, plants, human management, and ecosystem function. Leveraging partnerships with Utah state agencies, a large-scale ecosystem manipulation will measure nutrient cycling, microbial gene expression, and hydrological function in unmitigated sites and sites with Phragmites removal; these data will allow predictive modeling of how these interactions influence or are overridden by local context and site history. The project will partner with the Fellow’s existing relationship with Native American university students, providing opportunities to conduct fieldwork and participate in data analysis, statistics, and writing. The Fellow will receive transformative training for a future career as a scientist and professor by expanding knowledge and skills in molecular techniques and analyses, translational ecology, and predictive modeling.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.