ORE-CZ: Soil Microbial Characteristics of a Salinizing Forest Ecosystem within the Chesapeake Bay watershed

ORE-CZ：切萨皮克湾流域内盐碱化森林生态系统的土壤微生物特征

• 批准号: 2229056
• 负责人: Behnam Khatabi
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: University of Maryland Eastern Shore
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2229056&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: ORE; CZ; Soil; Microbial; Characteristics

Soil is one of the earth’s most important natural resources and is largely non-renewable on human timescales. Without the water, nutrients and physical support provided by soil and its microbes, most plants, and the animals that depend on them, including humans, could not exist. Soils in coastal forests, particularly in low-lying and shallow zones, are vulnerable to sea-level rise and saltwater intrusion, resulting in soil salinization. This change in environmental conditions will affect the soil microbial population that performs fundamental functions, such as nutrient cycling, breaking down residues, and stimulating plant growth. Predicting the overall response of soil microbial communities to climate change is an ongoing challenge in coastal ecosystems. This project will survey the diversity of soil and root-associated microbial communities across soil salinity gradients in coastal forests in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Climatic and soil properties will also be collected for comparison with the microbial communities’ composition and distribution. The results of this project will provide more robust knowledge of the microbial response to salinizing conditions in coastal forests. The successful completion of this project will outline the opportunities for a more sustainable management and protection of coastal areas that are important for enhancing resilience to climate change. This project will also engage minority students in intensive experiential learning with interdisciplinary research. The overall goal of this project is to investigate soil health and the coastal soil ecosystem integrity in response to saltwater intrusion driven by sea-level rise. To assess these linkages, the project will 1) characterize soil and root-associated microbial communities across soil salinity gradients in coastal forested ecosystems in the Chesapeake Bay to link soil salinization and the structure of plant-associated microbiota, 2) study plant-microbe interactions at the soil-root interface to understand whether plant stress resistance in salinizing forest ecosystems aligns with plant strategies or microbial consortia, and 3) elucidate the influence of environmental factors (soil properties and seasonal variation) on microbial communities’ composition. The research site will be at Monie Bay in eastern Maryland, which is in the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and is also one of the current NSF-supported Critical Zone Network (CZN) research sites. The findings of this research will deepen knowledge of the functional role of microbial communities in maintaining and improving soil health. This project is supported by the Critical Zone program in the Division of Earth Sciences and the Historically Black Colleges and Universities – Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) in the Human Resources Division.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.

土壤是地球上最重要的自然资源之一，在人类的时间尺度上基本上是不可再生的，如果没有土壤及其微生物提供的水、养分和物理支持，大多数植物和依赖它们的动物，包括人类，都可能无法再生。沿海森林的土壤，特别是低洼和浅水地区的土壤，容易受到海平面上升和盐水入侵的影响，导致土壤盐碱化，这种环境条件的变化将影响发挥基本作用的土壤微生物种群。预测土壤微生物群落对气候变化的总体反应是沿海生态系统中持续存在的挑战，该项目将调查整个土壤和根部相关微生物群落的多样性。还将收集切萨皮克湾流域沿海森林的土壤盐度梯度，以与微生物群落的组成和分布进行比较。该项目的结果将为微生物反应提供更可靠的知识。该项目的成功完成将为沿海地区提供更可持续的管理和保护，这对于增强气候变化的抵御能力至关重要。该项目还将让少数民族学生参与跨学科的强化体验式学习。该项目的总体目标是调查土壤健康和沿海土壤生态系统的完整性，以应对海平面上升引起的盐水入侵。为了评估这些联系，该项目将 1) 描述土壤和根系相关微生物群落的特征。土壤盐分梯度在切萨皮克湾沿海森林生态系统中，将土壤盐渍化与植物相关微生物群的结构联系起来，2）研究土壤-根界面处的植物-微生物相互作用，以了解盐化森林生态系统中植物的抗逆性是否与植物策略或微生物相一致联盟，3）阐明环境因素（土壤性质和季节变化）对微生物群落组成的影响该研究地点将位于马里兰州东部的莫尼湾。切萨皮克湾国家河口研究保护区，也是当前 NSF 支持的关键区域网络 (CZN) 研究地点之一，这项研究的结果将加深对微生物群落在维持和改善土壤健康方面的功能作用的了解。得到地球科学部关键区域计划和人力资源部历史黑人学院和大学本科计划 (HBCU-UP) 的支持。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被认为值得通过以下方式获得支持：使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。