Theroles of beneficial and damaging plant-microbial interaction in invasion

生物多样性的保护取决于了解决定物种丰富度及其相对丰富度的机制。这个发现基金所依据的基本科学问题是为什么一些植物物种会成为入侵物种？人们提出了不同的理论来解释植物共存和入侵的机制，然而，研究表明，这些理论并不能解释为什么一些植物物种会成为入侵物种。此外，他们在很大程度上忽视了土壤生物群的作用。植物的很大一部分是生长在土壤中的根系，土壤是无数生物的栖息地，其中许多生物与植物相互作用。本建议侧重于这些相互作用的结果，特别是确定有益和有害相互作用之间的平衡的作用，以及前者的作用在多大程度上使后者陷入困境。据预测，这些相互作用的结果取决于植物的性状，最终决定了物种的相对丰度和入侵能力。该研究将集中于位于安大略省北部落叶森林和常绿森林之间的重要生态过渡地带的一个老田群落，以及在植物中广泛存在的有益微生物共生。分子和经典技术的结合将用于研究入侵植物是否比相对较少的本地植物从这些共生体中获得更大的病原体保护。这项研究将有一个生物地理学的组成部分，侧重于在“主场”和“客场”条件下植物-微生物和植物-植物的竞争相互作用。此外，它将确定与本土外来入侵植物相关的微生物是否也可能被引入北美。预计这些结果将大大增加我们对土壤-植物-微生物相互作用在生态学中的作用的理解，以及对其进行管理以防止生物多样性丧失的潜力。

Conservation of biodiversity depends on understanding the mechanisms that determine species richness and their relative abundances. The basic scientific question on which this Discovery Grant is based is why do some plant species become invasive? Different theories have been proposed to explain the mechanisms of plant coexistence and invasion, however, research suggests that these do not explain why some plant species become invasive. In addition, they largely ignore the roles of the soil biota. A large part of a plant is its root system which grows in soil, a matrix that serves as habitat for a myriad of organisms, many of which interacting with plants. This proposal focuses on the outcomes of these interactions, particularly on identifying the role of equilibriums between beneficial and damaging interactions and the extent to which the role of the former is to keep the latter at bay. It is predicted that the outcomes of these interactions vary depending on plant traits, ultimately determining a species relative abundance and capacity to become invasive. The proposed research will focus on an old-field community located in the ecologically important transition zone between the deciduous and evergreen forest of Northern Ontario and on beneficial microbial symbioses, which are widespread among plants. A combination of molecular and classical techniques will be used to investigate whether invasive plants receive greater pathogen protection from these symbioses than relative less abundant native plants. The research will have a biogeographical component that focuses on plant-microbial and plant-plant competitive interactions under "home" and "away" conditions. Moreover it will determine if microbes associated with exotic invasive plants in their home range could also have been introduced in North America. It is expected that the results will significantly increase our understanding of the role of soil-plant-microbe interactions in ecology and their potential to be managed to prevent the loss of biodiversity.