Elucidating how nutrient-limiting soil conditions drive plant-induced weathering processes under a changing climate

阐明在气候变化下限制养分的土壤条件如何驱动植物引起的风化过程

• 批准号: RGPIN-2022-04512
• 负责人: Cornelis, JeanThomas
• 金额: $ 3.72万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=758000
• 关键词: Elucidating; how; nutrient; limiting; soil

The excessive use of mineral fertilizer has become a critical contributor to global environmental issues. Without a global agriculture revolution, we are unlikely to attain the twin goals of feeding the world's population while keeping Earth's systems in balance. The original goal of agricultural management was to maximize soil homogeneity for optimized crop establishment and growth. However, crop roots naturally forage for heterogeneously distributed nutrients when availability is limited. Hence, understanding and capitalizing on these adaptable responses represents an opportunity to reduce our dependence on high fertilizer inputs. This knowledge would therefore allow for a more realistic understanding of soil-root interactions and enable feasible strategies for designing crop systems with superior nutrient-use efficiency. Climatic constraints together with constraints on nutrients and water in soils will stimulate root activity, thereby having an important role in plant-induced weathering (bioweathering) processes that foster nutrient mobilization. While these processes are suspected to play a pivotal role in both nutrient acquisition and soil carbon sequestration, the precise nature of the connection between nutrient soil conditions and root-associated weathering remains largely uninvestigated. The overarching objective of my 5-year research program will be to elucidate how soil physicochemical properties influence root capacity to acquire nutrients, with a particular emphasis on characterizing soil-root interactions under changing climatic conditions. We will study soil-root interfaces using Rhizonboxes, evaluate the geochemical composition and metabolomic profile in rhizosphere soil solutions, and assess weathering features at the mineral surfaces. We will relate changes in soil microsite properties to the expression of root traits that are directed towards specific bioweathering processes. The proposed program responds to an urgent need to develop an integrative research approach that combines expertise in microscale soil processes and plant physiology. The long-term objective will be to test scale-up of successful strategies that result in enhanced crop yield, while lowering fertilizer use, and thus limiting potential environmental damage. The research program will train 1 PDF, 2 PhD, 2 MSc and 6 undergrads in understanding soil and root responses to nutrient and climatic constraints, and developing new soil-plant interaction strategies. With these skills, my HQPs will be highly sought after by academia and the Canadian agri-food sector. With our advancing knowledge on the interactions between microscale soil properties and root phenomics and metabolomics, the outcomes of this research program will contribute greatly to a new, sustainable paradigm of crop nutrient-use efficiency that has importance to assess and potentially re-conceptualize Canadian agricultural systems that will enable adaption and mitigation to climate changes.

过度使用矿物肥料已成为全球环境问题的关键因素。没有全球农业革命，我们不太可能实现养活世界人口的双重目标，同时使地球系统保持平衡。农业管理的最初目标是最大程度地提高土壤同质性，以优化作物的建立和增长。但是，如果有限，农作物的根源自然会针对异质分布的营养饲料。因此，了解和利用这些适应性的反应是一个机会，可以减少我们对高肥料投入的依赖。因此，这些知识将使人们对土壤 - 根之间的相互作用有更现实的了解，并实现可行的策略来设计具有较高营养效率的作物系统。 气候限制以及对土壤中养分和水的限制将刺激根部活动，从而在植物引起的风化过程中起重要作用，从而促进营养动员。尽管怀疑这些过程在养分和土壤碳固存中都起着关键作用，但养分土壤条件和与根相关的风化之间的连接的确切性质在很大程度上仍未得到评估。 我的5年研究计划的总体目标是阐明土壤物理化学特性如何影响根源的养分能力，并特别强调在气候条件变化的情况下表征土壤 - 根部相互作用。我们将使用根茎盒研究土壤 - 根界面，评估根际土壤溶液中的地球化学组成和代谢组谱，并评估矿物表面的风化特征。我们将将土壤微材料特性的变化与针对特定生物应受治疗过程的根特性的表达联系起来。 拟议的计划应对迫切需要开发一种综合研究方法，该方法结合了微观土壤过程和植物生理学方面的专业知识。长期目标将是测试成功的策略规模，从而降低肥料的使用，从而限制潜在的环境损害。该研究计划将培训1 PDF，2博士学位，2个MSC和6个本科生，以了解土壤和对养分和气候约束的根源反应，并制定新的土壤植物互动策略。有了这些技能，我的HQP将受到学术界和加拿大农业食品领域的高度追捧。凭借我们对微观土壤特性与根源现象学和代谢组学之间相互作用的进步知识，该研究计划的结果将极大地促进新的，可持续的农作物营养效率的范式，这些效率具有重视并有可能重新概念化的加拿大农业系统，以使加拿大的农业系统能够适应调整和弥补风化。