Plant biotic interactions under disturbance in the salt marsh

植物与微生物的相互作用往往为植物提供必要的生存益处，特别是在胁迫和干扰下。然而，这些相互作用也可能对一个伙伴有害(寄生/致病)。影响相互作用结果的因素还知之甚少。然而，它们对于我们理解干扰期间的生态系统变化非常重要，例如与气候变化有关的极端天气事件。在这个子项目中，我们的目标是使用元翻译方法来研究这些相互作用。这将涉及平行检查植物和内生微生物的表达基因。这些可以得出关于微生物功能的结论，特别是当比较不同环境条件下的基因表达时(这里是高盐度)。除了植物和微生物的营养相互作用外，还将研究与无脊椎动物(食草动物)的相互作用，并将借助条形码库和EDNA数据库来推断盐沼的食物网络。条形码库是必要的，因为盐沼中的许多植物显示出种内基因变异或密切相关的物种及其杂交后代共存。这种变化对动态生态系统物种组成的重要性是提案的第二个重点。

Plant interactions with microorganisms often provide essential survivalbenefits to plants, especially under stress and disturbance. However,these interactions can also be detrimental to one partner(parasitism/pathogenicity). The factors that influence the outcome ofthe interaction are poorly understood. However, they are important forour understanding of ecosystem changes during disturbances such asextreme weather events related to climate change. In this subproject,we aim to investigate these interactions using a metatranscriptomic approach. This will involve examining in parallel expressed genes ofplant and endophytic microorganisms. These allow conclusions to bedrawn about the function of the microorganisms, especially whencomparing gene expression under different environmental conditions(here hypersalinity). In addition to the trophic interactions of plant andmicroorganisms, the interaction with invertebrates (herbivory) will alsobe investigated and the food web of the salt marsh will inferred inmore detail with the help of a barcode library and an eDNA dataset.The barcode library is necessary because many plants in the saltmarsh show intraspecific genotypic variation or closely relatedspecies and their hybrids co-occur. The importance of such variationto the species composition of a dynamic ecosystem is the secondfocus of the proposal.