ORE-CZ: Soil Microbial Characteristics of a Salinizing Forest Ecosystem within the Chesapeake Bay watershed

土壤是地球上最重要的自然资源之一，在人类的时间尺度上基本上不可再生。如果没有土壤及其微生物提供的水、营养和物质支持，大多数植物和依赖它们的动物，包括人类，就无法生存。沿海森林的土壤，特别是低洼和浅水地带的土壤，易受海平面上升和盐水入侵的影响，导致土壤盐碱化。这种环境条件的变化将影响土壤微生物种群，这些微生物种群执行基本功能，例如养分循环，分解残留物和刺激植物生长。 预测土壤微生物群落对气候变化的总体响应是沿海生态系统面临的一个持续挑战。该项目将调查土壤和根相关的微生物群落的多样性，在沿海森林的土壤盐分梯度在切萨皮克湾流域。还将收集气候和土壤特性，以与微生物群落的组成和分布进行比较。该项目的结果将提供更可靠的知识，微生物对沿海森林盐渍化条件的反应。这一项目的成功完成将为更可持续地管理和保护沿海地区提供机会，这对加强对气候变化的抗御能力至关重要。该项目还将通过跨学科研究，让少数民族学生进行密集的体验式学习。该项目的总体目标是调查土壤健康和沿海土壤生态系统的完整性，以应对海平面上升导致的盐水入侵。为了评估这些联系，该项目将1）表征切萨皮克湾沿海森林生态系统中土壤和根相关微生物群落的土壤盐度梯度，以将土壤盐渍化和植物相关微生物群的结构联系起来，2）研究土壤-根界面的植物-微生物相互作用，以了解盐碱化森林生态系统中植物抗逆性是否与植物策略或微生物财团一致，阐明了环境因子（土壤性质和季节变化）对微生物群落组成的影响。该研究地点将位于马里兰州东部的莫尼湾，位于切萨皮克湾国家河口研究保护区，也是目前NSF支持的临界区网络（CZN）研究地点之一。这项研究的结果将加深对微生物群落在维持和改善土壤健康方面的功能作用的认识。该项目由地球科学部的临界区计划和人力资源部的历史黑人学院和大学-本科生计划（HBCU-UP）支持。该奖项反映了NSF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。

Soil is one of the earth’s most important natural resources and is largely non-renewable on human timescales. Without the water, nutrients and physical support provided by soil and its microbes, most plants, and the animals that depend on them, including humans, could not exist. Soils in coastal forests, particularly in low-lying and shallow zones, are vulnerable to sea-level rise and saltwater intrusion, resulting in soil salinization. This change in environmental conditions will affect the soil microbial population that performs fundamental functions, such as nutrient cycling, breaking down residues, and stimulating plant growth. Predicting the overall response of soil microbial communities to climate change is an ongoing challenge in coastal ecosystems. This project will survey the diversity of soil and root-associated microbial communities across soil salinity gradients in coastal forests in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Climatic and soil properties will also be collected for comparison with the microbial communities’ composition and distribution. The results of this project will provide more robust knowledge of the microbial response to salinizing conditions in coastal forests. The successful completion of this project will outline the opportunities for a more sustainable management and protection of coastal areas that are important for enhancing resilience to climate change. This project will also engage minority students in intensive experiential learning with interdisciplinary research. The overall goal of this project is to investigate soil health and the coastal soil ecosystem integrity in response to saltwater intrusion driven by sea-level rise. To assess these linkages, the project will 1) characterize soil and root-associated microbial communities across soil salinity gradients in coastal forested ecosystems in the Chesapeake Bay to link soil salinization and the structure of plant-associated microbiota, 2) study plant-microbe interactions at the soil-root interface to understand whether plant stress resistance in salinizing forest ecosystems aligns with plant strategies or microbial consortia, and 3) elucidate the influence of environmental factors (soil properties and seasonal variation) on microbial communities’ composition. The research site will be at Monie Bay in eastern Maryland, which is in the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and is also one of the current NSF-supported Critical Zone Network (CZN) research sites. The findings of this research will deepen knowledge of the functional role of microbial communities in maintaining and improving soil health. This project is supported by the Critical Zone program in the Division of Earth Sciences and the Historically Black Colleges and Universities – Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) in the Human Resources Division.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.