The plants eye view: disentangling plant-plant, plant-herbivore, and plant-soil interactions

植物视角：解开植物与植物、植物与食草动物以及植物与土壤的相互作用

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-04222
• 负责人: Lamb, Eric
• 金额: $ 3.42万
• 依托单位: University of Saskatchewan
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=716845
• 关键词: plants; eye; view; disentangling; plant

My research program investigates the causal linkages between plant and soil community diversity. My most recent work focuses on how plant-plant interactions, particularly the negative interactions where an invasive species replaces a native species, structure plant and soil communities. In this granting cycle, I will expand my program scope to examine herbivory impacts on plant-soil interactions. Herbivore-plant-soil linkages have historically been notoriously difficult to disentangle because the strength and direction of plant-soil feedbacks are modified by multi-way interactions among the plant species and abiotic conditions. While we know that these mechanisms can separately be important forces structuring plant and soil community diversity and function, the relative importance of these mechanisms have rarely been investigated in a single natural community. My specific objectives for this granting cycle are to: 1. measure the long-term impacts of cattle grazing on fescue grassland plant and soil community structure, 2. evaluate the relative importance of grazing induced changes in root biomass allocation and root exudate profiles, 3. examine how the known long-term impacts of plant invasion arise from short-term herbivore-plant-soil processes operating at the moment of invasion. My research program is important because, while large mammal herbivory is known to structure plant-soil relationships, few studies have by attempted to disentangle the roles of direct plant-plant interactions and abiotic conditions from herbivory impacts. My research program will be among the first to investigate how herbivory interacts with plant-plant and environmental drivers to structure plant-soil interactions. Moving from the general to specific plant-soil processes, my program will be among the first to directly observe the fine-scale belowground dynamics at the moment of a plant invasion. The focal species for this work, Smooth Brome, is one of the most problematic invasive species in prairie grasslands. The broader ecosystem processes and consequences driving Brome invasion are well understood, yet little is known about the interactions between individual Brome plants and the established native plants that Brome displaces. My work will thus be among the first to study a plant invasion from the plants eye view, examining how aboveground and belowground processes interact through the invasion process in real time.

我的研究计划调查了植物和土壤社区多样性之间的因果关系。我最近的工作着重于植物植物相互作用，尤其是侵入性物种取代本地物种，结构植物和土壤群落的负相互作用。在这个授予周期中，我将扩大我的计划范围，以检查对植物土壤相互作用的草食影响。众所周知，由于植物种类和非生物条件之间的多通道相互作用来改变植物土壤反馈的强度和方向，因此历史上很难脱离食草动物植物的土壤连接。尽管我们知道这些机制可以单独成为结构植物和土壤社区多样性和功能的重要力量，但这些机制的相对重要性很少在单个自然界中进行研究。我这个授予周期的具体目标是： 1。衡量牛放牧对羊茅草原植物和土壤社区结构的长期影响， 2。评估放牧诱导的根生物量分配和根渗出曲线变化的相对重要性， 3.检查植物入侵的已知长期影响是如何由入侵时运行的短期草食动物 - 土壤过程产生的。 我的研究计划很重要，因为虽然已知大型哺乳动物的草食生物是结构植物土壤关系的，但很少有研究试图将直接植物植物相互作用和非生物条件的角色与草食作用相关。我的研究计划将是最早研究食草动物如何与植物植物和环境驱动因素相互作用以构建植物土壤相互作用的人之一。从一般到特定的植物土壤过程，我的计划将是最早在植物入侵时直接观察到细小地下动力学的计划之一。这项工作的焦点是光滑的Brome，是草原草原中最有问题的入侵物种之一。广泛的生态系统过程和驱动Brome入侵的后果是充分理解的，但对于单个Brome植物与勃起替代的本地植物之间的相互作用知之甚少。因此，我的工作将是最早从植物视图中研究植物入侵的人之一，从而通过实时的入侵过程进行了地上和地下过程的相互作用。