Collaborative Research: Exploring the Functional Role of Antarctic Plants during Terrestrial Succession

合作研究：探索南极植物在陆地演替过程中的功能作用

• 批准号: 1932844
• 负责人: Sarah Eppley
• 金额: $ 52.08万
• 依托单位: Portland State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1932844&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Exploring; Functional; Role

Part I: Non-technical summaryThe Antarctic Peninsula warmed very rapidly in the late part of the 20th century, much faster than the global average, and this warming is predicted to resume and continue over the rest of the 21st century. One consequence of this rapid warming is the melting and subsequent retreat of glaciers, leading to an increase in newly-exposed land on the Peninsula that was previously covered with ice. Once new terrain is exposed, the process of ecological succession begins, with the arrival of early-colonizing plants, such as moss and lichens, and soil organisms - a process commonly referred to as the “greening” of Antarctica. Early stages of succession will be an increasingly common feature on the Antarctic Peninsula, but the mechanisms by which they occur on the Antarctic continent is not well understood. Once the plants have established on the newly-exposed soil, they can change many important properties, such as water dynamics, nutrient recycling, soil development, and habitat for microscopic organisms, which will ultimately determine the structure and functioning of the future ecosystem as it develops. These relationships between vegetation, soil, and the associated microorganisms, referred to as “plant-soil” interactions, are something we know virtually nothing about. This project will be the first to make a comprehensive study of how the type of colonizing plant, and the expansion of those plants from climate change, will influence terrestrial ecosystems in Antarctica. Understanding these processes is critical to understanding how the greening Antarctica is occurring and how soil communities and processes are influenced by these expanding plant communities. Through this work the research team, will also be intensively training undergraduate and graduate students, including training of students from underrepresented groups and collaborative training of students from Chile and the US. Additionally, the research groups will continue their focus on scientific outreach with K-12 schools and the general public to expand awareness of the effects of climate change in Antarctica.Part II: Technical summaryIn this study, the researchers will use surveys across succession sites along the Antarctic Peninsula and Scotia Arc as well as a manipulative field experiment at glacier succession sites to test how species-specific plant functional traits impact soil properties and associated microbial and invertebrate communities in a greening Antarctica. In doing so, they will pursue three integrated aims to understand how Antarctic plant functional traits alter their soil environment and soil communities during succession after glacial retreat. AIM 1) Characterize six fundamental plant functional traits (thermal conductivity, water holding capacity, albedo, decomposability, tissue nutrient content, and secondary chemistry) among diverse Antarctica flora; AIM 2) Measure the relative effects of fundamental plant functional traits on soil physical properties and soil biogeochemistry across glacial succession gradients in Antarctica; and AIM 3) Measure the relative effects of fundamental plant functional traits on soil microbial and invertebrate communities across glacial succession gradients in Antarctica. They will explore how early-colonizing plants, especially mosses and lichens, alter soil physical, biogeochemical, and biological components, potentially impacting later patterns of succession. The researhcers will use intensive surveys of plant-soil interactions across succession sites and a manipulative transplant experiment in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica to address their aims. The investigators will collect data on plant functional traits and their effects on soil physical properties, biogeochemistry, biotic abundance, and microbial metagenomics. The data collected will be the first comprehensive measures of the relative importance of plant functional types during glacial retreat and vegetative expansion from climate change in Antarctica, aiding our understanding of how plant functional group diversity and abundance are changing in a greening Antarctica.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

第一部分：非技术性总结 南极半岛在 20 世纪末期变暖非常迅速，速度远远快于全球平均水平，预计这种变暖现象将在 21 世纪余下时间恢复并持续下去，这是这种快速变暖的后果之一。变暖是冰川融化和随后的退缩，导致半岛上先前被冰覆盖的新暴露土地增加。苔藓和地衣等早期殖民植物以及土壤生物——这一过程通常被称为南极洲“绿化”，演替的早期阶段将成为南极半岛越来越常见的特征，但它们发生的机制。南极大陆上的植物一旦在新暴露的土壤上扎根，它们就会改变许多重要的特性，例如水动态、养分循环、土壤发育和微生物栖息地，这些特性最终将改变。决定未来生态系统发展的结构和功能。植被、土壤和相关微生物之间的这些关系，即“植物-土壤”相互作用，是我们几乎一无所知的。全面研究殖民植物的类型以及气候变化导致的这些植物的扩张将如何影响南极洲的陆地生态系统，了解这些过程对于了解南极洲绿化如何发生以及土壤群落和过程如何受到影响至关重要。通过这项工作，研究团队还将集中培训本科生和研究生，包括对来自智利和美国的学生进行培训以及对来自智利和美国的学生进行协作培训。与 K-12 学校和公众进行科学推广，以提高对南极洲气候变化影响的认识。第二部分：技术摘要在这项研究中，研究人员将在南极半岛和斯科舍岛弧沿线的演替地点进行调查，以及一个在冰川演替地点进行操纵性现场实验，以测试物种特异性植物功能性状如何影响绿化南极洲的土壤特性以及相关的微生物和无脊椎动物群落。在此过程中，他们将追求三个综合目标，以了解南极植物功能性状如何改变其土壤。冰川消退后演替过程中的环境和土壤群落 AIM 1) 表征六种基本植物功能性状（导热性、持水能力、反照率、分解性、组织养分含量和次要特征）。化学）在不同的南极洲植物群中；AIM 2）测量南极洲冰川演替梯度中基本植物功能性状对土壤物理性质和土壤生物地球化学的相对影响；AIM 3）测量基本植物功能性状对土壤微生物和土壤的相对影响。他们将探索南极洲冰川演替梯度上的无脊椎动物群落，尤其是苔藓和地衣，如何改变土壤的物理、生物地球化学、研究人员将在南极洲南设得兰群岛对植物与土壤的相互作用进行深入调查，并进行操作性移植实验，以实现他们的目标。性状及其对土壤物理性质、生物地球化学、生物丰度和微生物宏基因组学的影响，收集的数据将是冰川退缩和冰川退缩期间植物功能类型相对重要性的第一个综合测量。南极洲气候变化造成的蔬菜扩张，有助于我们了解绿化南极洲植物功能群多样性和丰度如何变化。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查进行评估，被认为值得支持标准。