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.

这项行动资助了2022财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大了生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。该研究金支持研究员的一项研究和培训计划，该计划将增加在生物学领域代表性不足的群体的参与。预测碳如何在生态系统中移动是全球气候变化面临的一项重大挑战。这些预测取决于对气候变化如何影响微生物群落的理解，这些微生物群落从分解的植物垃圾中释放碳。对植物凋落物分解的研究往往集中在自由生活在土壤中的真菌上，因为已知它们会产生分解植物细胞壁的酶。然而，越来越多的证据表明，真菌内生菌（真菌生活在植物体内）也可以显着分解植物垃圾。该项目旨在了解气候变化，内生真菌群落和植物凋落物的化学成分如何影响凋落物分解率。这项研究的结果将阐明真菌内生菌如何影响整个生态系统规模的碳运动。该研究员将通过数据科学研讨会扩大代表性不足的群体的参与，并将通过互动式气候变化课程与当地中学生互动，真菌内生菌群落将在炎热干燥或寒冷潮湿的环境之间进行移植，以了解气候变化如何影响真菌内生菌在一年内分解垃圾。该项目将测试三个假设，预测（1）气候，（2）真菌内生菌群落和（3）它们的相互作用如何影响凋落物质量损失，一种分解的衡量标准，通过利用高通量分子方法。要做到这一点，气候变量（降水量，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）将与凋落物质量或特定碳化合物的损失相关，以确定最能解释气候梯度中凋落物分解率差异的因素。该项目将确定控制真菌内生菌-植物界无处不在的共生体-分解植物垃圾并促进陆地碳循环的遗传，生态或生物地球化学因素。该研究员将通过赞助科学家获得与真菌内生菌基因表达和垃圾化学表征相关的指导，并通过指导，研讨会和气候科学教育促进代表性不足的群体更广泛的参与。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。