Unravelling beneficial multi-species interactions in a cereal crop system

确保我们能够养活不断增长的世界人口是一个每个人都能理解的问题。我们如何能够可持续地做到这一点，即同时保护后代所需的资源，是农业和生态研究的当前焦点。特别是，我们需要了解害虫和疾病的严重程度和分布将如何变化，以应对世界正在经历的日益多变的气候，例如干旱、热浪和洪水。持续使用杀虫剂控制昆虫导致昆虫种群产生抗药性，这意味着我们用化学品控制这些害虫的能力下降。为农民开发基于知识的实用替代方案对于支持可持续粮食安全战略至关重要。在自然环境中，许多物种相互作用并共存，形成一个功能良好的生态系统。在农业系统中，当土壤和环境受到干扰时，许多这些相互作用就会中断。然而，我们可以利用我们对自然群落的了解，利用已知的有益相互作用来帮助我们的作物系统。例如，生物控制促进了捕食者控制害虫种群的生态系统服务，并成功地用于许多封闭式温室系统。另一个例子是使用有益的微生物（细菌和真菌），可以增加植物的生长和存活。植物根部周围的有益细菌可以在许多方面帮助植物，包括提供额外的营养或使它们更能抵抗疾病或害虫。有益植物微生物在农业中的应用受到不同环境中不一致结果的阻碍。虽然一种细菌本身可能是有益的，但一旦进入混合群落（不仅与其他细菌，还包括昆虫或蚯蚓等），它可能会有不同的反应。该项目旨在了解我们如何使用特定类型的土壤细菌来促进植物健康，通过增加植物生长和抑制农业系统中的蚜虫种群。蚜虫是以植物汁液为食的草食性昆虫，它们可以传播对作物具有高度破坏性的病毒，导致重大经济损失。我将用有益微生物接种大麦植物，以确定减少谷物蚜虫害虫的效果。通过受控温室和田间实验的结合，我将了解不同的作物品种对这些微生物的反应如何变化，以及蚯蚓或有限的养分供应如何改变对植物生长和蚜虫抑制的影响。当将这些结果转移到田间时，重要的是要了解天然土壤微生物群落如何也可能改变结果的结果。我将评估田间土壤中的原生微生物对接种微生物建立的影响，以及这如何改变对植物生长和蚜虫抑制的影响。我将进一步确定大麦植物和细菌群落中导致对蚜虫害虫抗性增加的分子途径。这有助于开发未来的抗虫作物品种和害虫控制策略。最后，我将在大麦作物上使用不同的接种有益微生物群落进行农业田间试验。此类田间实验是为农民开发实用解决方案并评估对大规模系统中害虫控制影响的重要一步。该项目位于利物浦大学，将研究物种相互作用在可持续农业中的作用，确定对作物具有一致有益影响的相互作用，并可在未来加以利用。

Making sure we can feed the growing world population is a problem everyone can understand. How we can do this sustainably, i.e. while preserving the resources needed by future generations, is a current focus in agricultural and ecological research. In particular, we need to understand how the severity and distribution of pests and disease will change in response to the increasingly variable climate the world is experiencing, such as droughts, heat waves, and flooding. The continuing use of pesticides to control insects has led to the development of resistance in insect populations, and this means we have a reduced ability to control these pests with chemicals. The development of knowledge-based practical alternatives for farmers is vital in supporting sustainable food security strategies. In a natural setting, many species interact and coexist together to form a well-functioning ecological system. In agricultural systems, many of these interactions are disrupted when the soil and surroundings are disturbed. However, we can use our knowledge of natural communities and exploit known beneficial interactions to help our crop systems. For example, biological control promotes the ecosystem services of predators to control pest populations, and is used successfully in many closed greenhouse systems. Another example is the use of beneficial microbes (bacteria and fungi) that can increase plant growth and survival. Beneficial bacteria around the roots of plants can help the plant in many ways, including providing extra nutrients or making them more resistant to disease or insect pests. The application of beneficial plant microbes in agriculture has been hindered by inconsistent results across different environments. While one type of bacteria might be beneficial on its own, once in a mixed community (not just with other bacteria, but also including things like insects or earthworms) it can respond differently.This project aims to understand how we can use specific types of soil bacteria to promote plant health, through increased plant growth and suppression of aphid populations in agricultural systems. Aphids are herbivorous insects that feed on plant sap, and they can transmit viruses that are highly damaging to crop plants, leading to significant economic losses. I will inoculate barley plants with beneficial microbes to determine the effect on reducing cereal aphid pests. Through a combination of controlled greenhouse and field experiments, I will understand how different crop cultivars vary in their response to these microbes, and how earthworms or limited nutrient availability can modify the effects on plant growth and aphid suppression. When transferring such results to the field, it is important to understand how the natural soil microbial community may also change the outcome of the results. I will assess the impact of the native microbes in the field soil on the establishment of inoculated microbes, and how this can alter the effects on plant growth and aphid suppression. I will further identify molecular pathways in both the barley plants and bacterial communities that lead to increased resistance to the aphid pests. This can help to develop future insect-resistant crop cultivars and pest control strategies. Finally, I will run agricultural field experiments using different communities of inoculated beneficial microbes on barley crops. Such field experiments are an essential step towards developing practical solutions for farmers, and to assess the impact on pest control in large-scale systems. Based at The University of Liverpool, this project will investigate the role of species interactions in sustainable agriculture, identifying interactions that show consistent beneficial effects on the crop plants and that can be exploited in the future.