Collaborative Research: Testing a microbial-association-distribution hypothesis to explain spatial distributions and species co-existence in a community of epiphytic plants

几乎所有的野生植物都依赖于被称为菌根真菌的有益真菌来获得足够的营养。植物和真菌之间的这种关系可能有助于解决生物多样性研究中的一个关键难题，即如此多的植物物种如何能够竞争相同的水，光和土壤养分资源，同时又能在同一个自然群落中共存。该项目将在哥斯达黎加高度多样化的热带森林中进行实验，以测试：1）不同的植物物种是否与不同的真菌相关联; 2）物种是否只出现在对该物种有益的真菌存在的地方; 3）与不同真菌的关联是否减少了植物物种之间的竞争，促进了共存。这项研究将集中在森林中生长在树干和树枝上的丰富的兰花，因为人们已经知道这些物种与菌根真菌形成了密切的联系。研究结果将促进对维持自然多样性的机制的了解，该项目将向公众和科学界传播研究结果，以促进保护热带森林的多样性。该项目还将培训本科生、研究生和博士后研究人员，包括在科学领域代表性不足的群体的成员，并促进国际科学合作。提出的概念模型，植物-真菌协会如何塑造兰花群落和它们的生态位结构是，真菌本身是植物利用的资源，以及植物获得资源，如水和养分，从而决定植物的空间分布和物种共存的方式。这一假设将通过两项综合研究来解决，这两项研究将（1）在热带森林中进行兰花，真菌和环境变量的首次空间采样，以及（2）通过将种子包放置在有和没有合适真菌的位置，实验确定兰花种子的建立是否受到真菌分布的限制。这两项研究都将采用下一代测序方法来识别环境中的真菌，并将包括对兰花和真菌的生态位和相互作用网络的新统计分析。研究结果将显示（1）真菌是斑块分布，（2）兰花在真菌协会不同，（3）兰花幼苗的建立和成人的分布受到真菌分布的限制，（4）共存的兰花物种显示生态位分配在他们的使用真菌和基质中，他们的相关真菌汲取资源。

Nearly all wild plants depend upon beneficial fungi, called mycorrhizal fungi, to obtain adequate nutrition. This relationship between plants and fungi may help solve a key puzzle in the study of biodiversity, how so many species of plants can compete for the same resources of water, light, and soil nutrients and yet co-exist in the same natural community. This project will conduct experiments in a highly diverse tropical forest in Costa Rica to test if: 1) different plant species associate with different fungi; 2) species only occur where the appropriate beneficial fungi for that species are present; and 3) association with different fungi reduces competition between plant species and promotes co-existence. The research will focus on the rich array of orchids that grow on the trunks and branches in the forest, since it is already known that these species form close associations with mycorrhizal fungi. Results will advance understanding of the mechanisms that maintain natural diversity, and the project will disseminate findings to the public as well as to the scientific community to promote conservation of the diversity in tropical forests. The project will also train undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, including members of groups under-represented in science, and promote international scientific collaboration. The proposed conceptual model for how plant-fungal associations could shape orchid communities and their niche structures is that fungi are themselves resources exploited by the plants, as well as the means by which plants acquire resources such as water and nutrients, and thus determine plant spatial distributions and species coexistence. This hypothesis will be addressed through two integrated studies that will (1) conduct the first such spatial sampling of orchids, fungi, and environmental variables in a tropical forest and (2) experimentally determine whether orchid seed establishment is limited by the distribution of fungi by placing seed packets in locations with and without suitable fungi. Both studies will employ next-generation sequencing methods to identify fungi in the environment and will include novel statistical analyses of the niches and interaction networks of orchids and fungi. Findings will show whether (1) fungi are patchily distributed, (2) orchids differ in their fungal associations, (3) orchid seedling establishment and adult distributions are limited by fungal distributions, and (4) co-occurring orchid species show niche partitioning in their use of fungi and in the substrates from which their associated fungi draw resources.