Cost effective measurement of root exudates

拟议的自动固相萃取系统将支持植物生态学、植物-土壤相互作用、土壤修复、恢复生态学和土壤碳动态等领域的五个基础和应用研究项目。我们在不同的研究项目上进行合作，重点是自然和农业系统中的植物如何与土壤中的细菌和真菌群落相互作用并构建它们的结构。我们特别感兴趣的是了解植物对土壤的影响如何反过来推动土壤生态系统服务的提供，如养分循环和植物生产力。我们需要固相萃取系统来准确和有效地测量植物根系分泌物。植物根与土壤的相互作用由植物根分泌物控制，植物根分泌物是低浓度(ppb到ppt)从植物根中释放出来的低分子有机化合物。植物群落组成的变化可以改变根分泌物的浓度和化学成分，导致土壤微生物群落结构和提供生态系统服务的变化，如养分循环速率和植物生产力。我们的研究项目依赖于从田间采集的土壤样本中提取的根分泌物化合物的快速和准确的识别和测量。目前，我们使用劳动力和试剂密集的程序来提取和准备根分泌物，以便在离子色谱仪(IC)上进行分析。这一提取步骤是我们共享实验室中的一个瓶颈，限制了可以处理的样本数量。拟议的固相萃取系统将减少实验室成本和时间，使我们能够扩大样本规模并减少HQP的实验室延误。*在该设备促进的许多预期研究结果中，我们将能够1)解开入侵植物物种、环境条件和草食强度之间复杂的多方面相互作用，这些因素构成了土壤群落；2)将微生物群落、土壤和植物表型与环境条件下的作物稳定产量联系起来。识别与产量稳定性相关的细菌和真菌物种将使我们能够识别连接植物品种和土壤群落的植物生理和遗传因素，为植物育种者将微生物组纳入作物发展提供关键信息。3)我们将评估基础植物物种如何改变受干扰地点的环境条件，为其他物种的建立创造条件。提高我们对早期生态位构建的理解将改进目前北极冻土带演替的模式，并使本土冻土带物种能够在恢复中得到有效利用。

The proposed automated solid-phase extraction system will support five basic and applied research programs in the areas of plant ecology, plant-soil interactions, soil remediation, restoration ecology, and soil carbon dynamics. We collaborate on diverse research projects focused on how plants in both natural and agricultural systems interact with and structure the communities of bacteria and fungi in the soil. We are particularly interested in understanding how plant influences on the soil in turn drive the provision of soil ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling and plant productivity.******We require the solid-phase extraction system to accurately and efficiently measure plant root exudates. Plant root soil interactions are governed by plant root exudates, which are low molecular weight organic compounds that are released from plant roots at low (ppb to ppt) concentrations. Changes in plant community composition can alter the concentration and chemical composition of root exudates, causing changes in both soil microbial community structure and the provision of ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling rates and plant productivity. Our research programs depend on the rapid and accurate identification and measurement of root exudate compounds extracted from field collected soil samples. Currently, we use a labour and reagent intensive procedure to extract and prepare root exudates for analysis on an ion chromatograph (IC). This extraction step is a bottleneck in our shared laboratory limiting the number of samples that can be processed. The proposed solid phase extraction system will reduce laboratory costs and time, allowing us to improve sample sizes and reduce laboratory delays for HQP.******Among the many anticipated outcomes of research facilitated by this equipment, we will be able to 1) disentangle the complex multi-way interactions among the invasive plant species, environmental conditions, and the intensity of herbivory, that structure soil communities, 2) link the microbiome, soil, and plant phenotypes associated with stable crop yields across environmental conditions. Identifying the bacterial and fungal species associated with yield stability will allow us to identify the plant physiological and genetic factors linking plant varieties and soil communities, providing critical information for plant breeders to incorporate the microbiome into crop development. 3) We will evaluate how the foundational plant species modify the environmental conditions on a disturbed site, creating conditions that facilitate the establishment of other species. Improving our understanding of early niche construction will improve current models of arctic tundra succession and enable the effective use of native tundra species in restoration.