Collaborative Research: Role of soil microbiome resilience in ecosystem recovery following severe wildfire

合作研究：土壤微生物组恢复力在严重野火后生态系统恢复中的作用

• 批准号: 2114869
• 负责人: Corey Hutchins
• 金额: $ 6.2万
• 依托单位: Colorado College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2114869&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Role; soil; microbiome

Wildfire is a natural feature of healthy forest ecosystems. There is concern because the frequency and intensity of these events are increasing as our climate warms. Among their many impacts, wildfire disturbances impact the microorganisms present in forest soils that catalyze a series of key ecosystem processes, ranging from the establishment of tree seedlings to the cycling of carbon and nitrogen. Research to date has revealed that the composition of soil microbiomes is altered by wildfire, but critical information is lacking on how increasingly severe wildfires in western US forests will affect the recovery of soil microbial communities, with cascading impacts on forest ecosystems. This research uses a unique series of burn pile scars in a lodgepole pine forest in northern Colorado as a proxy for the decadal recovery of the soil environment following severe wildfire. The work will use diverse microbiological and geochemical analyses to determine how soil chemistry and microbiomes change up to 50-years following fire. Insights gained here will assist with forest management following severe wildfire in the western US and will be incorporated into new educational opportunities at the participating research institutions. The project will enrich a variety of courses taught by the researchers, include training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, and provide cooperative extension to forest managers as well as public outreach activities.There is an increasing appreciation that changing wildfire regimes may drive long-term alterations in both above- and below-ground ecosystem structure. This research will investigate the resilience of soil microbiomes (i.e., their ability to return to pre-fire levels) following severe wildfire in lodgepole pine forests, (2) the functional implications of shifts in microbiome structure, and (3) the ability of altered soil microbiomes to support tree regeneration via rhizosphere interactions. Together, this research will test the hypothesis that altered soil chemical and physical properties drive the soil microbiome to an alternate steady state following severe wildfire, with implications for the establishment of new pine seedlings and subsequent ecosystem recovery. To test this, the work leverages a unique experimental opportunity consisting of burn pile scars throughout a forest ecosystem, thus ensuring that the chrono-sequence controls for fuel type and load, elevation, climate, and aspect. Furthermore, the approach integrates diverse analytical tools including metagenomic interrogations of soil microbiomes, mass-spectrometry characterization of soil chemistry, and vegetation manipulation greenhouse experiments. Together, our results will represent the first insights into the extent of resilience of burned soil microbiomes across a 50-year post-fire recovery period, and the ability of lodgepole pine seedlings to recruit beneficial rhizosphere communities that aid in tree re-establishment.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.

野火是健康森林生态系统的自然特征。之所以令人担忧，是因为随着我们的气候温暖，这些事件的频率和强度正在增加。在许多影响中，野火障碍会影响森林土壤中存在的微生物，这些微生物催化了一系列关键的生态系统过程，从建立树幼苗到碳和氮的循环。迄今为止的研究表明，土壤微生物组的组成因野火而改变，但是缺乏关键信息，即美国西部森林中日益严重的野火如何影响土壤微生物群落的恢复，对森林生态系统产生层叠的影响。这项研究在科罗拉多州北部的Lodgepole Pine Forest中使用了一系列独特的烧伤疤痕，作为严重野火后土壤环境际恢复的代理。这项工作将使用多种微生物和地球化学分析来确定火灾后土壤化学和微生物的变化多达50年。在美国西部严重的野火之后，这里获得的见解将有助于进行森林管理，并将在参与研究机构的新教育机会中纳入。该项目将丰富由研究人员教授的各种课程，包括针对本科生和研究生的培训机会，并为森林经理以及公共宣传活动提供合作扩展。越来越多的欣赏是，改变野火政权可能会导致地上和地下生态系统结构的长期变化。这项研究将研究土壤微生物组的弹性（即它们在洛德柱松林中发生严重野火之后，其恢复到火前水平的能力），（（2）微生物组结构中转移的功能含义，（3）（3）土壤微生物群体对通过rhizosphosposphere互动的树生物重新生成的土壤微生物的能力。总之，这项研究将检验以下假设，即在严重的野火之后，将土壤化学和物理特性驱动到替代稳态，这对建立新的松树幼苗和随后的生态系统恢复的意义。为了测试这一点，这项工作利用了一个独特的实验机会，该机会包括整个森林生态系统的燃烧堆疤痕，从而确保了计时序列控制燃料类型和负载，高程，气候和方面的控制。此外，该方法集成了多种分析工具，包括土壤微生物组的宏基因组询问，土壤化学的质谱表征以及植被操纵温室实验。共同，我们的结果将代表对射击后50年的烧毁土壤微生物组的复原力程度的首次见解，以及洛德柱松树幼苗招募有益的根际群社区的能力，促进树木重新建立的有益的根际社区。这种奖励反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过评估了构成的范围。