NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: How will climate change influence how endophytes decompose plant litter?

NSF 生物学博士后奖学金：气候变化将如何影响内生菌分解植物凋落物的方式？

• 批准号: 2209329
• 负责人: Austen Apigo
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Apigo, Austen
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2209329&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; How

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. Predicting how carbon moves through ecosystems is a major challenge in the face of global climate change. These predictions are dependent on understanding how changes in climate influence the microbial communities that release carbon from decomposing plant litter. Studies on plant litter decomposition tend to focus on fungi that live freely in the soil because they are known to produce enzymes that breakdown plant cell walls. Yet mounting evidence suggests that fungal endophytes (fungi living inside plants) can also significantly decompose plant litter. This project seeks to understand how changes in climate, the fungal endophyte community and the chemical composition of plant litter influences litter decomposition rate. Findings from this study will illuminate how fungal endophytes affect the movement of carbon at the scale of whole ecosystems. The fellow will broaden the participation of underrepresented groups through data science workshops and will engage with local middle school students through an interactive climate change curriculum.Fungal endophyte communities will be reciprocally transplanted between environments that are either hot and dry or cold and wet to understand how changes in climate influence litter decomposition by fungal endophytes over the course of one year. This project will test three hypotheses that predict how (1) climate, (2) the fungal endophyte community and (3) their interaction influence litter mass loss, a measure of decomposition, by leveraging high-throughput molecular methods. To do this, climatic variables (precipitation, temperature) and features of the fungal endophyte community (biomass, species composition, enzyme activity, gene expression) will be correlated to the loss of litter mass or specific carbon compounds to identify the factors that best explain differences in litter decomposition rate across a climate gradient. This project will identify the genetic, ecological or biogeochemical factors that govern how fungal endophytes - ubiquitous symbionts of the plant kingdom - decompose plant litter and contribute to the terrestrial carbon cycle. The fellow will receive mentoring related to the characterization of fungal endophyte gene expression and litter chemistry through the sponsoring scientists as well as facilitate the broader participation of underrepresented groups through mentorship, workshops and climate science education.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.

该行动为2022财年生物学的NSF博士后研究奖学金提供了资金，扩大了在生物学中代表不足的群体的参与。奖学金支持该研究员的研究和培训计划，这将增加生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。面对全球气候变化，预测碳如何通过生态系统移动是一个主要挑战。这些预测取决于理解气候变化如何影响从分解植物垃圾的微生物群落。对植物垃圾分解的研究往往专注于自由生活在土壤中的真菌，因为它们众所周知会产生破坏植物细胞壁的酶。然而，越来越多的证据表明，真菌内生植物（生活在植物中）也可以显着分解植物垃圾。该项目旨在了解气候变化，真菌内生菌社区和植物垃圾的化学成分如何影响垃圾分解率。这项研究的发现将阐明真菌内生菌如何影响碳在整个生态系统的规模上的运动。该研究员将通过数据科学研讨会来扩大人物不足的小组的参与，并将通过互动的气候变化课程与当地的中学生互动。FungungalEndophertote社区将在热或寒冷或潮湿的环境之间对互惠移植，以了解气候变化在气候上散发出杂物的杂物中的杂物，以了解一年中的一年。该项目将检验三个假设，这些假设可以预测（1）气候，（2）真菌内生菌社区和（3）它们的相互作用影响垃圾质量损失，一种分解，通过利用高通量分子方法。为此，气候变量（降水，温度）和真菌内生菌群落的特征（生物量，物种组成，酶活性，基因表达）将与垃圾质量或特定碳化合物的丢失相关，以确定在气候梯度范围内散落率分解率的差异的因素。该项目将确定遗传，生态或生物地球化学因素，这些因素控制真菌内生植物如何 - 无处不在的植物王国共生体 - 分解植物垃圾并有助于陆生碳循环。该同伴将通过赞助科学家通过指导，通过指导，讲习班和气候科学教育来促进代表不足的群体的广泛参与，从而获得与真菌内生菌基因表达和垃圾化学相关的指导。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过评估基金会的智力效果，并通过评估了基金会的范围。