COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Can microbial symbiosis mediate effects of climate change on the functioning of an ecosystem engineer?

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）。准确预测社区和生态系统对气候变化的反应不仅需要确定气候变化对物种的直接影响，而且还需要确定通过生物相互作用或物种对环境的影响而产生的间接影响。这些间接影响对于改变自然生境结构的物种可能特别重要。对于植物来说，微生物共生体具有很强的潜力来介导植物对气候变化的反应。该项目将比较非生物和生物控制的方式，Ammophila breviligulata（美国海滩草）修改其环境中的五大湖沙丘系统的相对重要性。短舌沙蓬在沙丘演替的早期阶段通过大量的根系生产来稳定流沙，因此被认为是一种重要的生态系统工程。气候变化导致的夏季干旱增加可能会降低A. breviligulata来固定沙子和稳定沙丘。然而，A. breviligulata在其叶中宿主共生真菌内生菌，在其根中宿主丛枝菌根真菌，这可以提高对干旱的耐受性，改变根结构，从而提高土壤稳定性。利用实验室和实地实验以及广泛的地理调查相结合，这项研究将测试微生物共生是否可以介导气候变化对生态系统工程师功能的影响。 这项工作将增加非农业植物共生体的知识，直接应用于改善五大湖和大西洋沿岸的沙丘植被，以及管理入侵种群的A。在西海岸的短舌类代表性不足的少数民族将通过NSF AGEP计划招募，为EPSCoR州经济困难的学生提供研究经验。K-12教育也将通过提供高中学生研究机会和国家教师研讨会得到加强。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Accurate predictions of community and ecosystem responses to climate change will require identifying not only the direct effects of altered climate on species, but also the indirect effects that occur through biotic interactions or as a result of species impacts on the environment. Those indirect effects may be particularly important for species that modify physical habitat structure. For plants, microbial symbionts have strong potential to mediate plant responses to climate change. This project will compare the relative importance of abiotic and biotic controls on the ways that Ammophila breviligulata (American beach grass) modifies its environment in Great Lakes dune systems. Ammophila breviligulata stabilizes moving sand through prolific root production during the early stages of dune succession, and thus is considered an important ecosystem engineer. Increased summer droughts resulting from climate change may reduce the capacity of A. breviligulata to bind sand and stabilize dunes. However, A. breviligulata hosts a symbiotic fungal endophyte in its leaves and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in its roots, which may improve tolerance to drought, alter root architecture, and thus enhance soil stability. Using a combination of lab and field experiments and broad geographic surveys, this study will test whether a microbial symbiosis can mediate effects of climate change on the functioning of an ecosystem engineer. This work will increase knowledge of non-agronomic plant symbionts, with direct application for improving dune restorations in the Great Lakes and Atlantic Coast, as well as for managing invasive populations of A. breviligulata on the West Coast. Underrepresented minorities will be recruited through the NSF AGEP program, providing research experiences for economically disadvantaged students in an EPSCoR state. K-12 education will also be enhanced by providing high school student research opportunities and a national teacher workshop.