Understanding the impact of climate change and elevated CO2 on tree microbial diversity

了解气候变化和二氧化碳浓度升高对树木微生物多样性的影响

• 批准号: 2874934
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2874934
• 关键词: Understanding; impact; climate; change; elevated

Many trees, such as oak, are crucial to the British economy, environment, and culture. They support many species, providing a habitat that encourages rich woodland biodiversity across our natural environment. However, they are threatened by climate change. This causes alterations in the abundance and distribution of tree pathogens consequently increasing the likelihood of new disease breakouts. Acute Oak Decline (AOD) is caused by a multitude of factors including several bacterial species that become key members of the pathogenic oak microbiome. It is possible environmental change could increase trees' susceptibility to pathogens increasing AOD prevalence. A core component of climate change is a rise in carbon dioxide concentration, which affects tree growth and disease susceptibility. For instance, elevated levels of atmospheric CO2 (e[CO2]) cause changes in leaf composition and increase biomass through magnified levels of photosynthetic carbon fixation. There are well-established links between microbiome composition and the physiology of the host plant. Microbiomes typically extend an organism's functional capabilities, importantly increasing tolerance to stress and disease. However, the effect e[CO2] tree physiology has on tree microbiome community structure is somewhat unexplored. Utilising the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR) Free Air Carbon Dioxide (FACE) facility we can investigate e[CO2] effects on microbial community diversity (including bacteria, fungi, and bacteriophage) on different tree species (including Oak and Cherry), and how these microbes interact with tree pathogens. We hypothesise that as trees grow larger under e[CO2] there may be higher microbial abundance, but that leaf chemistry compositional changes will alter the diversity of the microbes, potentially with an overall negative impact in the microbiomes' ability to suppress pathogen establishment. We will examine how individuals and microbial consortia interact with key pathogens, for example, a polymicrobial consortium of Gram-negative Enterobacteriaceae (e.g. Brenneria sp., Gibbsiella sp., Rahnella sp.) that cause Acute Oak Decline (AOD). This approach is essential for making accurate predictions regarding future tree health and disease.

许多树木，例如橡树，对英国的经济、环境和文化至关重要。它们支持许多物种，提供了一个栖息地，鼓励我们的自然环境中丰富的林地生物多样性。然而，他们正受到气候变化的威胁。这会导致树木病原体的丰度和分布发生变化，从而增加新疾病爆发的可能性。橡树急性衰退 (AOD) 是由多种因素引起的，其中包括成为致病性橡树微生物组关键成员的几种细菌物种。环境变化可能会增加树木对病原体的敏感性，从而增加 AOD 的患病率。气候变化的一个核心组成部分是二氧化碳浓度的上升，这会影响树木的生长和疾病的易感性。例如，大气中二氧化碳 (e[CO2]) 水平的升高会导致叶子成分发生变化，并通过光合固碳的放大水平增加生物量。微生物组组成与宿主植物的生理学之间存在明确的联系。微生物组通常会扩展生物体的功能，重要的是提高对压力和疾病的耐受性。然而，e[CO2] 树木生理学对树木微生物群落结构的影响尚未被探索。利用伯明翰森林研究所 (BIFoR) 自由空气二氧化碳 (FACE) 设施，我们可以研究 e[CO2] 对不同树种（包括橡树和樱桃）的微生物群落多样性（包括细菌、真菌和噬菌体）的影响，以及这些微生物如何与树木病原体相互作用。我们假设，随着树木在 e[CO2] 下生长得更大，微生物丰度可能会更高，但叶子化学成分的变化将改变微生物的多样性，可能会对微生物组抑制病原体建立的能力产生总体负面影响。我们将研究个体和微生物群落如何与关键病原体相互作用，例如导致急性橡树衰退（AOD）的革兰氏阴性肠杆菌科（例如布伦氏菌属、吉布氏菌属、雷氏菌属）的多种微生物群落。这种方法对于准确预测未来树木的健康和疾病至关重要。