COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Parsing the effects of host specificity and geography on plant-fungal symbioses under climate change

合作研究：解析气候变化下宿主特异性和地理对植物-真菌共生的影响

• 批准号: 1457248
• 负责人: Jose Herrera
• 金额: $ 22.12万
• 依托单位: Western New Mexico University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1457248&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; Parsing; effects; host

Climate models project higher temperatures, more variability in precipitation, and more extreme weather events in the future. Under such changing environments, foundation plant species, which promote stable conditions for other species and support fundamental ecosystem processes, may benefit from microbial partners that enhance plant survival during climate extremes. However, whether microbial partners can help buffer ecosystems against climate change remains unknown. This research investigates a widespread, but poorly known, group of fungi that commonly grow in the roots of dominant forage grasses. The project determines how the benefits of these fungi vary along gradients of drought and heat stress, differ among grass species, and shift across geographic regions. This work has high promise for identifying fungi that help plants survive and grow in stressful climates. Together, this team will integrate research activities into a new high school teacher training program that focuses on underserved communities and a set of laboratory modules for middle school workshops. Results will shed new light on the functions of microbial partners in maintaining grassland and rangeland productivity, improving the ability to conserve, manage, and restore these important areas in future climates.Deeper insight into the biology of root endophytes has the potential to transform understanding of how plants respond to drought and heat in the same way that studies on mycorrhizal fungi overturned paradigms about how plants acquire nutrients. This project tests whether root-associated fungi benefit dominant grassland plant species, which may moderate the loss of net primary production during droughts and heat waves. The work addresses the following questions: (1) What is the relative importance of host species identity versus geographic and climatic gradients in explaining variation in symbiont abundance and composition? (2) How strongly do host species identity and geographic origin influence the magnitude of symbiont benefits across gradients of heat and drought stress? (3) Can symbiont-mediated amelioration of stress be generalized from laboratory settings to predict outcomes in the field? Activities include field surveys along latitudinal gradients, next-generation high-throughput sequencing of root fungi, development of a large fungal culture collection, multi-factor greenhouse trials that manipulate drought and heat, and field tests that leverage existing, large, cross-site rainfall experiments. Novel aspects of this project include characterizing root-associated fungal composition along latitudinal gradients, testing the hypothesis that symbioses become more beneficial to plants under increased abiotic stress, and determining how endophytic root fungi affect plant hosts under field conditions.

气候模型投射到更高的温度，降水的变化更多以及将来更多的极端天气事件。在这种不断变化的环境下，基础植物物种促进其他物种的稳定条件并支持基本生态系统过程，可能会受益于微生物伴侣，从而在极端气候期间增强植物生存。但是，微生物伴侣是否可以帮助缓冲生态系统免受气候变化的影响。这项研究调查了一种普遍生长在占主导饲料草的根源中的广泛但知名的真菌。该项目确定这些真菌的益处在干旱和热应激的梯度，草种之间有所不同，并在整个地理区域内发生了变化。这项工作有很高的希望，可以识别有助于植物在压力大的气候下生存和生长的真菌。该团队将共同将研究活动整合到一个新的高中教师培训计划中，该计划重点是服务不足的社区和一套用于中学研讨会的实验室模块。 Results will shed new light on the functions of microbial partners in maintaining grassland and rangeland productivity, improving the ability to conserve, manage, and restore these important areas in future climates.Deeper insight into the biology of root endophytes has the potential to transform understanding of how plants respond to drought and heat in the same way that studies on mycorrhizal fungi overturned paradigms about how plants acquire nutrients.该项目测试了与根相关的真菌是否有益于主要的草地植物物种，这可能会减轻干旱和热波期间净初级生产的损失。这项工作解决了以下问题：（1）宿主物种身份与地理和气候梯度在解释共生体丰度和组成变化方面的相对重要性是什么？ （2）寄主物种的身份和地理起源如何强烈地影响着热力和干旱压力梯度之间的共生型益处？ （3）共生体介导的压力可以从实验室环境中推广以预测现场结果吗？活动包括沿纬度梯度沿线的现场调查，根真菌的下一代高通量测序，开发大型真菌培养物收藏集，多因素温室试验，以操纵干旱和热量，以及利用现有的大型，大型，交叉降雨实验的现场测试。该项目的新方面包括表征沿纬度梯度的根相关的真菌组成，检验了一个假设，即共生物对植物在增加的非生物胁迫下变得更加有益，并确定内生根真菌如何影响田间条件下的植物宿主。