Cost effective measurement of root exudates

该自动化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力学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，重点研究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和结构。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。******我们要求固相萃取系统能够准确有效地测量植物根系渗出物。植物根系与土壤的相互作用受植物根系渗出物的控制，这些渗出物是植物根系以低浓度（ppb至ppt）释放的低分子量有机化合物。植物群落组成的变化可以改变根系分泌物的浓度和化学成分，引起土壤微生物群落结构和生态系统服务的变化，如养分循环速率和植物生产力。我们的研究计划依赖于快速准确地识别和测量从田间收集的土壤样品中提取的根渗出物化合物。目前，我们使用劳动和试剂密集的程序来提取和准备根渗出液进行离子色谱仪（IC）分析。这个提取步骤是我们共享实验室的瓶颈，限制了可以处理的样品数量。提出的固相萃取系统将减少实验室成本和时间，使我们能够改善样品大小并减少HQP的实验室延误。******在该设备促进的许多预期研究成果中，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途径相互作用，结构土壤群落；2)将微生物组，土壤和植物表型与各种环境条件下稳定的作物产量联系起来。确定与产量稳定性相关的细菌和真菌种类将使我们能够确定联系植物品种和土壤群落的植物生理和遗传因素，为植物育种家将微生物组纳入作物发育提供关键信息。3)我们将评估基础植物物种如何改变受干扰场地的环境条件，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善北极冻土带演替的现有模型，并使本地冻土带物种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.