Nutrient acquisition strategies and plant-soil interactions in diversified agroecosystems

迫切需要进行创新研究，以确定农业在减少环境影响的同时促进可持续粮食系统的途径。农业的可持续转型，包括将农业生态原则应用于农场设计和管理，正在经历一个分水岭时刻，已被联合国粮食及农业组织确定为实现农业可持续性的变革性途径。农业生态战略，即加强农业景观中的农业生物多样性，可以减轻与当前粮食生产系统相关的许多负面影响。虽然加强农业多样性可以解决许多紧迫的环境问题，但我们对如何设计和管理多样化农业生态系统的理解仍然存在根本差距。为了解决这些差距，我的研究计划旨在推进对多样化农业生态系统的诊断，并最终将我们的发现转化为农场实践和政策。这个多学科项目优先考虑支持当地创新的联合研究，旨在更好地了解人与他们种植的植物的交集。该研究项目的长期目标是了解多样化农业生态系统中的生物地球化学动力学。这是通过一个综合研究项目来实现的，该项目侧重于量化1)多样化农场的养分循环，2)环境变化下的作物性状和养分获取策略，以及3)从传统农业系统向可持续农业系统的成功过渡。在未来五年内，本研究计划将在以下方面做出新的贡献：i)将当代生态学理论应用于农业生态学研究，以便更好地诊断不同农业生态系统中植物-土壤相互作用；Ii)有机和多样化农业作物育种新兴领域的养分获取策略评估；Iii)预测指标，以克服评估农场向可持续和多样化系统转型的局限性。该研究项目利用一系列成熟的和新兴的研究地点、一个尖端的分析平台以及与研究人员和农民的伙伴关系，取得关键成果，包括强有力的研究产品、循证管理和知识动员，以及环境科学家的培训。我的研究将对加拿大农业部门的环境可持续性产生影响。本研究项目的研究结果将i)通过提高多样性的集体战略为农业景观的生态系统服务提供做出贡献；ii)支持农业生态系统向弹性系统的过渡，精确解决加拿大和国外农场对可持续性的需求；iii)对农业生态系统政策和实践产生当代见解，通过健康和稳定的农业系统造福社会。

Innovative research is critically needed to identify pathways by which agriculture can reduce its environmental impact, while simultaneously promoting sustainable food systems. Sustainable transitions in agriculture, including the application of agroecological principles to farm design and management, is experiencing a watershed moment, having been identified as the transformative pathway to agricultural sustainability by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization. Agroecological strategies, namely enhancing agrobiodiversity in agricultural landscapes, can mitigate many of the negative impacts associated with current food production systems. While enhancing farm diversity can address many pressing environmental issues, fundamental gaps persist in our understanding of how to design and manage diversified agroecosystems. To address these gaps, my research program is designed to advance the diagnostics of diversified agroecosystems and, ultimately, to translate our findings into on-farm practice and policy. This multidisciplinary program prioritizes co-produced research that supports local innovation, and aims to better understand the intersection of people and the plants they grow. The long-term goal of this research program is to understand the biogeochemical dynamics in diversified agroecosystems. This is achieved through an integrative research program focused on quantifying 1) nutrient cycles in diversified farms, 2) crop traits and nutrient acquisition strategies under environmental change, and 3) the success of transitions from conventional to sustainable agricultural systems. In the next five years, this research program will contribute novel: i)applications of contemporary ecological theory into agroecological research, in order to better diagnosis plant-soil interactions in diversified agroecosystems; ii)assessments of nutrient acquisition strategies within the emerging area of crop breeding for organic and diversified agriculture; iii)predictive indicators to overcome limitations in evaluating farm transitions toward sustainable and diversified systems. This research program employs a suite of established and emerging research sites, a cutting-edge analytical platform, and partnerships with researchers and farmers, to achieve key outcomes, including robust research products, evidence-based management and knowledge mobilization, and training of environmental scientists. My research will lead to impacts on the environmental sustainability in Canada's agricultural sector. Findings from this research program will i) contribute to ecosystem service provisioning across agricultural landscapes with collective strategies to enhance diversity, ii) support agroecological transitions toward resilient systems, precisely addressing farm needs for sustainability in Canada and abroad, and iii) generate contemporary insights into agroecosystem policy and practice, benefitting society via healthy and stable agricultural systems.