Collaborative Research: Functional Significance of "Dark Septate" Endophytes in Grassland and Meadow Ecosystems of Western North America

植物根部为各种真菌提供了营养丰富的环境。这些真菌参与几种生态系统功能：分解死亡物质，促进植物营养吸收，以及陆生动物的食物来源。这项研究计划的重点是一组新的根相关真菌。这些真菌在许多生态系统中非常常见，但它们的功能仍然超出了以前的研究范围。这项研究计划旨在确定目标真菌是否在整个北美草原上普遍存在，相同的真菌是否出现在不同的草原上，以及它们的功能是什么。将使用显微镜和微生物学技术相结合的方法来估计生物的丰度，并确定草原上的共同参与者。一旦最常见的真菌的选择已经建立了营养来源，真菌可以利用将被确定。基于这些结果，将确定这些真菌在帮助植物养分利用中的作用。了解这些根相关真菌的功能至关重要，因为它们可能是植物性能的关键参与者，并允许获得植物无法获得的营养源。因此，这些真菌可能成为低影响或有机农业中生物施肥的重要选择。拟议的研究也有一个重要的培训组成部分：一个博士后，两个研究生和至少两个本科生将参与。拟议的研究将在堪萨斯州立大学的分子生态学家和俄勒冈州州立大学的生态系统生态学家（Myrold）之间建立一个新的创新研究合作。

Plant roots provide a nutrient-rich environment for a variety of fungi. These fungi participate in several ecosystem functions: decomposition of dead material, facilitation of plant nutrient uptake, and a food source for terrestrial animals. This research program focuses on a new group of root-associated fungi. These fungi appear extremely common in many ecosystems, yet their function has remained beyond the scope of previous investigations. This research program aims to determine whether the target fungi are common throughout North American grasslands, whether the same fungi occur in different grasslands, and what is their function. A combination of microscopic and microbiological techniques will be used to estimate the abundance of the organisms and to identify the common players across the grasslands. Once a selection of the most common fungi has been established sources of nutrients, which the fungi can utilize will be determined. Based on these results the role of these fungi in aiding plant nutrient use will be determined. Understanding the function of these root-associated fungi is crucial as they may be key players in plant performance and allow access to nutrient sources otherwise not available to the plants. Accordingly, these fungi may become an important option for biofertilization in low impact or organic agriculture. The proposed research has also a significant training component: one post-doc, two graduate students and at least two undergraduate students will be involved. The proposed studies will establish a new and innovative research collaboration between a molecular ecologist at Kansas State University and ecosystem ecologist (Myrold) at Oregon State University.