SG: Linking above and belowground interactions in highbush blueberry.

超过80%的陆生植物与称为菌根（mycor，“真菌”和rhizae，“根”）的土壤真菌形成密切关系。这些真菌从土壤中获取营养，并在光合作用中与植物交换碳水化合物。这些植物中的绝大多数也依赖动物授粉。植物与这些互惠共生者的相互作用可能以重要的方式交织在一起，但大多数情况下是单独研究的。本研究将探讨菌根真菌如何影响授粉重要的植物性状，以及环境背景如何影响这些相互作用。这些问题将在美国一种具有重要经济意义的农业物种——高丛蓝莓（Vaccinium corymbosum）中进行研究。此外，通过现有的“从农场到餐盘”项目，与K-12教师的关系，以及与农业推广项目的新合作，学校的孩子们将参与活动，了解健康的地下和地上生物的重要性，高中生和大学生将参与科学研究。该项目将研究菌根是否以宿主基因型特异性的方式影响对传粉媒介重要的花性状。此外，还将研究菌根的身份和相对丰度对寄主花性状表达的影响。菌根驱动的花性状差异将探讨其对传粉者访问和由此产生的花粉限制的影响。菌根、花性状和传粉之间的联系被假设取决于传粉者的丰度、多样性和同一性。这项工作将利用最先进的分子工具来了解植物对菌根真菌的反应是否依赖于真菌群落的身份，并需要广泛的实地实验来了解本地传粉者群落的重要性。为了检验这些假设，将两种不同品种（基因型）的高灌木蓝莓用市售的接种物或含有本地真菌孢子的土壤接种，并在普通花园的花盆中种植。一旦它们开花，植物将被放置在佛蒙特州的六个农场，旁边是现有的蓝莓丛。将测量每株植物的花性状。此外，还将进行花粉限制试验，以检验接种菌根是否会影响花粉限制。将观察实验植物以及在每个地点生长的其他植物，并记录蜜蜂传粉者的数量和身份，以评估传粉者群落的特定地点差异。这些数据将在三年内收集、分析并广泛分发给科学家和农民。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Over 80% of all terrestrial plants form close relationships with soil-dwelling fungi called mycorrhizae (mycor, "fungus" and rhizae, "roots"). These fungi garner nutrients from the soil and exchange them for carbohydrates obtained by plants during photosynthesis. The vast majority of these plants also rely on animals for pollination. Plant interactions with these mutualists may be intertwined in important ways, but have most often been studied separately. This research will examine how mycorrhizal fungi affect plant traits important to pollination, and how the environmental context affects these interactions. These questions will be examined in an agricultural species of great economic importance in the United States - the highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum). Additionally, through existing farm-to-plate programs, relationships with K-12 teachers, and new collaborations with an agricultural outreach program, school children will be engaged in activities to learn about the importance of healthy below- and above-ground organisms, and high school and college students will be engaged in scientific research.The project will examine if mycorrhizae affect floral traits important to pollinators in host genotype-specific ways. Additionally, the identity and relative abundance of mycorrhizae will be examined for effects on floral trait expression in the host. Mycorrhizal-driven differences in floral traits will be explored for their effects on pollinator visitation and resulting pollen limitation. The links among mycorrhizae, floral traits, and pollination are hypothesized to depend on pollinator abundance, diversity, and identity. The work will capitalize on state-of-the-art molecular tools to understand if plant response to mycorrhizal fungi is dependent on the identity of fungal communities, and entail extensive field experiments to understand the importance of the native pollinator communities as well. To examine these hypotheses, highbush blueberry of two different cultivars (genotypes) will be inoculated with a commercially available inoculum or with soils containing native fungal spores and grown in pots in a common garden. Once they flower, plants will be placed at six farms in Vermont alongside existing blueberry bushes. Floral traits will be measured on each plant. In addition, a pollen limitation experiment will be conducted to examine if mycorrhizal inoculation affects pollen limitation. Experimental plants, as well as others growing at each site, will be observed and the number and identity of bee pollinators will be recorded to assess site-specific differences in pollinator communities. The data will be gathered over three years, analyzed and widely distributed to scientists and to farmers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.