DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Phylogenetic approaches to functional diversity of mycorrhizal fungi: linking environmental change to ecosystem function

人类活动导致生物多样性减少，这可能导致生态系统功能的改变。生态系统功能的这些变化可能是由功能多样性的变化，即功能不同类型的生物体的数量的变化所调节的。由于微生物控制着大多数生化循环，并在很大程度上决定了生态系统对环境变化的反应，因此量化微生物功能多样性对于预测生态系统对全球变化的反应至关重要。这项研究将检验全球变化导致生态系统功能改变和生物多样性减少的普遍假设。具体地说，将使用新的系统发育和分子方法来研究氮沉积(全球变化的一个组成部分)、土壤碳储存(一种生态系统功能)和丛枝菌根真菌(与许多植物物种的根部相关的共生真菌)的功能多样性之间的关系。这项研究将深入了解养分投入和生物多样性的变化将如何影响生态系统功能，并将产生在农业、保护生物学和恢复生态学领域应用的新信息。通过将营养投入、微生物功能多样性和生态系统功能联系起来，这项研究的结果可以用来做出关于补救人类活动对生物多样性和生态系统功能的负面影响的知情决定。

Human activities have resulted in reduced biodiversity, which can lead to altered ecosystem functions. These changes in ecosystem function are likely mediated by changes in functional diversity, the number of functionally different types of organisms. Because microbes control most biochemical cycles and largely determine ecosystem responses to environmental changes, quantifying microbial functional diversity is critical to predicting the responses of ecosystems to global change. This study will test the general hypothesis that global change results in altered ecosystem function and reduced biodiversity. Specifically, the relationships among nitrogen deposition (a component of global change), soil carbon storage (an ecosystem function) and the functional diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (symbiotic fungi associated with the roots of numerous plant species) will be examined using novel phylogenetic and molecular approaches. This study will provide insights into how changes in nutrient inputs and biodiversity will affect ecosystem function, and it will generate novel information that has applications within the fields of agriculture, conservation biology and restoration ecology. By linking nutrient inputs, microbial functional diversity and ecosystem function, the results of this study can be utilized to make informed decisions regarding remediation of the negative effects of human activities on biodiversity and ecosystem function.