Temporal dynamics of plant-soil microbial interactions in exotic plant invasions

外来入侵物种是一种重大的环境干扰，对经济和社会具有重大影响。许多植物物种入侵了加拿大的大部分地区，包括森林的下层。一个主要的关切是它们对土壤、植物和森林健康的长期影响。利用地理空间代替时间(即入侵年龄)，这项研究计划将确定高度入侵植物对土壤微生物多样性和功能(即土壤生物影响植物生长和繁殖成功的能力)的长期影响。这将使用田间和温室实验以及分子和传统微生物学方法相结合来实现。这项研究还将调查植物-微生物相互作用的时间模式，以确定它们导致入侵和/或本地植物种群下降的能力。这些知识对于理解植物入侵的后果和为入侵物种管理决策提供信息是很重要的。如果发现某些入侵物种会对土壤支持本地物种的能力造成长期的变化，就应该更容易地采取控制措施。相反，如果入侵植物种群由于病原体积累而减少，我们可能不再需要分配资源进行控制。因此，这项研究对政府、环境管理者、生物学家和自然保护者具有重要意义。预计我们将更好地了解土壤微生物多样性对植物入侵的响应，从而了解土壤健康如何改变其支持本地植物物种的能力。

Exotic invasive species represent a major environmental disturbance with significant ramifications to the economy and society. Many plant species invade large parts of Canada, including the understory of forests. A major concern is their long-term consequences to soil, plant and forest health. Using a substitution of geographic space for time (i.e., invasion age), this research program will determine long-term effects of highly invasive plants on soil microbial diversity and function (i.e., the capacity of soil organisms to influence the growth and reproductive success of plants). This will be achieved using a combination of field and greenhouse experiments along with molecular and traditional microbiology methods. The research will also investigate temporal patterns of plant-microbial interactions in their capacity to cause declines in invasive and/or native plant populations. This knowledge is important to understand the consequences of plant invasions and to inform invasive species management decisions. If certain invasive species are found to cause long lasting changes to the capacity of soils to support native species, control measures should be put in place more readily. Conversely, if invasive plant populations are declining as a result of pathogen accumulation we may no longer need to allocate resources for control. Therefore, this research is important for governments, environmental managers, biologists and nature conservationists. It is anticipated that we will gain a better understanding of soil microbial diversity in response to plant invasions and, consequently, how soil health may change in its capacity to support native plant species.