Scaling molecular mechanisms of mycorrhizal-decomposer interactions to emergent ecosystem carbon balance
EMSL Project ID
49989
Abstract
Emerging evidence from field experiments and global scale analyses suggests that ectomycorrhizal fungi may slow soil carbon (C) cycling via negative interactions with free-living microbial decomposers in soils. There are two dominant mechanistic explanations for this negative interaction. (1) Ectomycorrhizal fungi slow decomposition by competing with free-living decomposers for limiting soil nitrogen (N) resources (exploitation competition). Alternatively, (2) ectomycorrhizal fungi slow decomposition via direct antagonistic interactions with free-living microbes by producing anti-microbial compounds (interference competition). Evaluating the level of mechanistic support for each of these hypotheses is important in the context of predicting soil C balance under environmental change, as each mechanism is likely to have different sensitivities to different global change forcings, especially global-scale anthropogenic N-deposition.
To evaluate the level of support for each of these hypotheses, we have created model ecosystems which can replicate negative interactions between ectomycorrhizal fungi and free-living decomposers and trace the downstream effect on soil C cycling and storage. We are leveraging this design with an emerging model for studying the 'omics of plant-ectomycorrhizal systems; the Pinus-Suillus system. Here, we request metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing from JGI, as well as metabolomic, metaproteomic and soil organic matter chemistry (i.e. "humeomic") analyses from EMSL. By combining these different technologies, we aim to determine the relative level of mechanistic support for each of these hypotheses of microbial interactions that can alter the emergent C cycling properties of an ecosystem.
Project Details
Project type
FICUS Research
Start Date
2017-10-01
End Date
2020-03-31
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Co-Investigator(s)
Team Members