NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2022: Rules and Strategies of Plant Microbiomes Under Global Change

这一行动为NSF 2022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。全球环境变化广泛影响着从单个细胞到整个生态系统的大量物种。气候变暖、干旱和营养物质污染等环境破坏会引发植物和微生物的变化。然而，全球变化可能如何改变这些不同生命形式之间的相互作用还没有得到很好的研究。为了填补这一知识空白，该项目将测试有关植物-微生物关联的新理论，并利用这项研究的信息对经历气候变化的生态系统做出更好的预测。为了扩大对科学的参与，这位研究员将领导研讨会，赋予不同社区了解全球变化的工具。该研究员将在作为生命法则的权衡框架中研究微生物产量、资源获取、胁迫耐受性和相互作用特征，并将在加利福尼亚州欧文的洛马岭全球变化实验中应用这一权衡理论来预测微生物在几个与植物相关的环境背景下的组装和功能。使用理论和实验相结合的方法，研究是否在微生物基因组水平上存在性状权衡，微生物组的组装是否由对性状的环境选择决定，以及生活史策略是否预测在不断变化的环境中的生态功能。这种类型的分子理论建模方法可以应用于从人类到土壤微生物群的各种系统。这种方法可以揭示潜在的微生物基因组信息和生态与微生物组组装和功能的关系。这一综合研究将理论、分子数据和生态系统过程联系起来，以产生对气候变化缓解和适应具有实用价值的成果。培训目标包括建立全球变化生态学方面的专业知识，发展计算和理论技能，以及实践包容性教学和指导。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 2022, 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. Global environmental change widely affects a broad number of species, from individual cells to entire ecosystems. Environmental disruptions such as warming, drought, and nutrient pollution can trigger changes in both plants and microbes. However, how global change might alter the interaction between these different life forms is not well studied. To fill that knowledge gap, this project will test new theory on plant-microbe associations and use the information from this study to make better predictions about ecosystems experiencing climate change. To broaden participation in science, the fellow will lead workshops to empower diverse communities with the tools to understand global change. The fellow will investigate microbial yield, resource acquisition, stress tolerance, and interaction traits in a tradeoff framework as a Rule of Life, and will apply this tradeoff theory to predict microbial assembly and function across several plant-associated environmental contexts at the Loma Ridge Global Change Experiment in Irvine, CA. Using a combination of theoretical and experimental approaches, the research will address whether trait tradeoffs exist at the microbial genomic level, if microbiome assembly is determined by environmental selection on traits, and if life history strategies predict ecological functioning in a changing environment. This type of molecular-theoretical-modeling approach could be applied across systems from humans to soil microbiomes. This approach can reveal how underlying microbial genomic information and ecology relate to microbiome assembly and function. This integrated research bridges theory, molecular data, and ecosystem processes to generate results with practical value for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Training objectives include building expertise in global change ecology, developing computational and theoretical skills, and practicing inclusive teaching and mentoring.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.