Deciphering plant-plant, plant-microbe, and plant-soil interactions driving biological invasion in a southwestern desert grassland
EMSL Project ID
60352
Abstract
Plant invasion is a major component of global change, leading to environmental transformations that alter ecosystem services and associated biogeochemical cycles. The overarching goal of this project is to achieve a mechanistic understanding of the role that belowground microbes, particularly root-endophytic microbes with a soil-borne life phase, play in conjunction with the plant metabolome to promote plant invasion. At the Santa Rita Experimental Range (SRER), a natural grassland in southern Arizona, the non-native perennial grass Eragrostis lehmanniana (ERLE) was introduced to stabilize soil and provide forage for cattle. ERLE now dominates the landscape and outcompetes native grasses. Via a combination of lab and field experiments coupled with comprehensive metabolomic and microbial community composition analyses, we aim to illuminate mechanisms by which invaders interact with microbes, native plants, and soil to promote their growth over native plants. Specifically, we will investigate how ERLE uses symbionts and allelopathic chemicals, independently and in concert, to shape soil C and N dynamics and processes with potent impacts on ecosystem function. This project supports the DOE-BER mission by uncovering the underlying chemistry of plant-soil-microbe interactions in response to perturbation and advancing a mechanistic understanding of soil nutrient dynamics. The metabolomics and imaging resources requested here will allow us to disentangle the complex interactions shaping species invasion and better identify plant-soil-microbe-associated factors important for nutrient cycling in a changing landscape.
Project Details
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Start Date
2022-10-01
End Date
N/A
Status
Active
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Co-Investigator(s)
Team Members