NSF PRFB FY23: Soil carbon allocation among mycorrhizal species under global change

该行动资助了美国国家科学基金会2023财年生物学博士后研究奖学金，研究基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该奖学金支持将以创新方式对生活规则领域作出贡献的研究员的研究和培训。几乎所有树木的根部都生长着有益的真菌：菌根。真菌从土壤中提供养分，作为交换，树木为这些真菌提供碳（糖）。其中一些碳最终被困在土壤中。森林土壤储存了大量的大气二氧化碳，而菌根可以帮助促进这种碳储存。然而，我们对植物和真菌物种在碳和养分贸易经济方面的差异知之甚少。这些差异可能对如何管理森林以促进土壤碳储存产生重大影响。这项研究将调查不同的植物和真菌如何用碳交换营养物质，以及这些碳有多少被转移到土壤中。这些信息将用于测试菌根物种是否可以帮助更好地预测森林中未来的土壤碳储量。此外，研究员将透过针对不同年龄层小学生的工作坊，与他们交流这些研究结果。这些研讨会的目标是提高学生对科学领域和未来职业道路的兴趣。该研究员将在从实验室到整个大陆的空间层次尺度上研究物种对菌根碳分配的影响。该项目将测试菌根树和真菌物种根据周围环境条件调节碳和营养物质交换速率的假设，这种经济最终影响森林中整体土壤碳储量。利用同位素标记，将从培养的真菌中测量不同菌根真菌物种的“碳成本”。该实验将与测量植物生物多样性实验的地下“碳供应”并置于一起，该实验在相似的条件下种植了各种树木。从这些实验中观察到的植物和真菌物种之间的相对变化将与从美国各地森林中采集的土壤碳测量结果进行比较，以评估物种水平信息有效预测土壤碳储量的程度。在这些实验中，来自不同背景的大学生将被招募和培训，并将以青年组织为重点组织社区外展活动。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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 2023, 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. Almost all trees have helpful fungi growing on their roots: mycorrhizas. The fungi provide nutrients from soils and, in exchange, the trees feed these fungi carbon (sugars). Some of this carbon ends up trapped in soils. Forest soils store a large amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and mycorrhizas can help promote this carbon storage. However, we know little about how plant and fungal species differ in their carbon and nutrient trade economies. These differences could have major impacts on how forests are managed to promote soil carbon storage. This research will investigate how different plants and fungi trade carbon for nutrients and how much of this carbon gets transferred to soils. This information will be used to test whether mycorrhizal species can help better predict future soil carbon storage in forests. In addition, the fellow will communicate these findings through targeted workshops for primary school students at different age levels. The goal of these workshops will be to increase students’ interest in science as a field and future career path. The fellow will investigate species effects on mycorrhizal carbon allocation at spatially hierarchical scales ranging from the laboratory to across the continent. The project will test the hypothesis that mycorrhizal tree and fungal species modulate the exchange rate of carbon and nutrients based on surrounding environmental conditions, with this economy ultimately influencing overall soil carbon storage in forests. Using isotopic labeling, the “carbon cost” of different mycorrhizal fungal species will be measured from cultured fungi. This experiment will be juxtaposed by measuring belowground “carbon supply” from a plant biodiversity experiment, where various tree species have been planted under similar conditions. The relative variation observed among plant and fungal species from these experiments will be compared with soil carbon measurements taken from forests across the United States to assess the degree to which species-level information can effectively predict soil carbon storage. Throughout these experiments, undergraduates from diverse backgrounds will be recruited and trained, and community outreach events will be organized focused on youth organizations.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.