NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: The buried solution for agricultural resilience: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

这项行动资助了2021财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大了生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。该研究金支持研究员的一项研究和培训计划，该计划将增加在生物学领域代表性不足的群体的参与。更长和更极端的干旱期对全球农业构成重大挑战。与此同时，占主导地位的农业模式大大减少了作物多样性，导致土壤生物多样性下降，特别是在一个重要的真菌群，称为丛枝菌根真菌（AMF）。这些生物体被称为缓解植物干旱胁迫。因此，本研究的目标是（1）确定作物多样性和土壤真菌之间的联系机制，进而（2）了解植物-真菌相互作用缓冲作物抵御干旱胁迫的功能机制。这项研究将吸引当地农村社区和赞助机构中代表性不足的学生。具体而言，研究员将开发一种新颖的综合方法，同时支持农村高中未来的STEM教育工作者，并为加州圣华金河谷少数民族占多数的农村社区的高中生开发体验式学习计划。 作物多样化已成为一种利用土壤生物多样性，特别是AMF的潜在利益的战略，以缓冲作物对干旱的影响，干旱是目前对农业生产力日益严重的威胁。然而，虽然更大的作物多样性可以丰富AMF社区，但在农业系统中将土壤生物多样性与生态系统功能联系起来仍然是一个根本性的挑战。因此，需要更多的研究来了解农业管理如何改变真菌群落组成，并选择真菌性状可能会或可能不会缓解干旱胁迫。这项研究旨在通过使用一种新的方法来填补这一知识空白，该方法将土壤真菌生态学，功能基因组学和植物生态生理学相结合，以测试作物多样化是否可以积极改变真菌的功能组成和植物-真菌相互作用，以缓解干旱胁迫。通过比较不同水平的作物多样性（单作与混作）和操纵水的可用性领域，本研究将探讨菌根真菌（与非菌根真菌）的贡献，作物生产力干旱直接在该领域。该研究员还将为农村少数民族占多数的高中开发一个体验式学习计划，使代表性不足的高中生能够追求STEM职业，并支持农村高中未来的STEM教育工作者。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, Broadening Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. Longer and more extreme drought periods pose a substantial challenge for agriculture globally. At the same time, the dominant farming model has dramatically reduced crop diversity leading to a decline in soil biodiversity, especially in an important group of fungi called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). These organisms are known for alleviating plant drought stress. Therefore, the goal of the proposed research is to (1) determine the mechanisms by which crop diversity and soil fungi are connected, and in turn, (2) understand the functional mechanisms by which plant-fungi interactions buffer crops against drought stress. This research will engage underrepresented students in the local rural communities and at the sponsoring institution. Specifically, the Fellow will develop a novel and integrative approach to simultaneously support future STEM educators in rural high schools and develop an experiential learning program for high school students in minority-majority rural communities in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Crop diversification has emerged as a strategy to harness the potential benefits of soil biodiversity, especially AMF, to buffer crops against drought, a current and growing threat to agricultural productivity. However, while greater crop diversity can enrich AMF communities, linking soil biodiversity to ecosystem functions in the contexts of agricultural systems remains a fundamental challenge. Therefore, more studies are needed to understand how agricultural management may alter fungal community composition and select for fungal traits may or may not alleviate drought stress. This research seeks to fill this knowledge gap by using a novel approach that integrates soil fungal ecology, functional genomics, and plant ecophysiology to test whether crop diversification can positively alter the functional composition of fungi and plant-fungal interactions to alleviate drought stress. By comparing fields with varying levels of crop diversity (monoculture versus polyculture) and manipulating water availability, this research will examine the contribution of mycorrhizal fungi (versus non-mycorrhizal fungi) to crop productivity under drought directly in the field. The Fellow will also develop an experiential learning program for rural minority-majority high schools to empower underrepresented high school students to pursue STEM careers and support future STEM educators in rural high schools.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.