Emerging Frontiers in Rhizosphere Science Workshop at Warrenton, VA

Soil Science Society Of America, Fitchburg WI

Investigators

Abstract

Soil is host to a myriad of critical coupled hydrobiogeochemical processes, greatly intensified in the vicinity of the root, which provide nutrients, water and life supporting symbiotic associations required for plant growth. It is becoming increasingly clear that plants interact through complex feedback systems with the soil surrounding their roots in a very precise and sometimes deliberate manner, manipulating biogeophysical and biogeochemical conditions which ultimately influence mineral weathering, nutrient and C cycling, water dynamics, and microbial species distribution and abundance. An example of this type of interaction is that of the chemical signaling that occurs in leguminous plants to attract nitrogen fixing microbial symbionts when under nitrogen stress. New work on rhizosphere interactions continues to provide insights into such topics as allelopathy, nutrient acquisition, chemotaxis, and disease resistance, among others. Rhizosphere science is inherently interdisciplinary and covers the interaction of plants, other soil organisms and the physicochemical properties of soils. However, much of the work has remained one-dimensional in that it has been limited to examining one facet of the interaction (e.g. plant physiology of plant-fungal endophyte interactions) while neglecting the tangential effects of these interactions (influence of the plant-fungal interaction on root exudate composition, mineral weathering, soil microbial ecology, C and N dynamics, etc.) on regional or global scales. Furthermore, little is known concerning the genetic controls on below ground processes in plants and how gene expression in plants and in the complex microbial consortium surrounding roots might be interrelated through specific feedback systems. It is clear that progress in unraveling the mysteries surrounding the complex interactions in the rhizosphere and illuminating the controls on coupled hydrobiogeochemical processes influencing nutrient and C cycling and water use efficiency, will require a concerted interdisciplinary effort. The overall objective of the proposed workshop is to bring together researchers from multiple, cross-cutting disciplines to evaluate the current state of rhizosphere science, define the key questions, and map out a transformative research agenda necessary to foster the breakthroughs required to understand rhizosphere processes and their role in ecosystem function, climate change, sustainability, as well as food, energy and water security.