Closing the carbon cycle: an ecological understanding of wood decay

该项目旨在了解森林中碳返回大气的控制，特别是从微生物的角度关注这一问题。微生物动力学和木材腐烂对全球碳循环至关重要。这个领域缺乏的是一个基于特征的木材分解者生态学。该项目计划通过一系列实验来研究真菌和卵菌内生菌和分解者之间的相互作用。该项目的预期结果是清楚地了解特征在木材分解者群落中的作用，特别是它们对优先效应、竞争等级和最终木材腐烂率的影响。

The project aims to understand the controls on the return of carbon to the atmosphere within forests, especially focusing on this problem from a microbial perspective. Microbial dynamics and wood decay are crucially important for the global carbon cycle. What the field is lacking is a trait-based ecology of wood decomposers. The project plans to examine the interactions among fungal and oomycete endophytes and decomposers through a series of experiments. The expected outcome of this project is a clear understanding of the role of traits in wood decomposer communities, especially their influence on priority effects, competitive hierarchies, and the resultant wood decay rate.