NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: How will climate change influence how endophytes decompose plant litter?

Apigo, Austen, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. Predicting how carbon moves through ecosystems is a major challenge in the face of global climate change. These predictions are dependent on understanding how changes in climate influence the microbial communities that release carbon from decomposing plant litter. Studies on plant litter decomposition tend to focus on fungi that live freely in the soil because they are known to produce enzymes that breakdown plant cell walls. Yet mounting evidence suggests that fungal endophytes (fungi living inside plants) can also significantly decompose plant litter. This project seeks to understand how changes in climate, the fungal endophyte community and the chemical composition of plant litter influences litter decomposition rate. Findings from this study will illuminate how fungal endophytes affect the movement of carbon at the scale of whole ecosystems. The fellow will broaden the participation of underrepresented groups through data science workshops and will engage with local middle school students through an interactive climate change curriculum. Fungal endophyte communities will be reciprocally transplanted between environments that are either hot and dry or cold and wet to understand how changes in climate influence litter decomposition by fungal endophytes over the course of one year. This project will test three hypotheses that predict how (1) climate, (2) the fungal endophyte community and (3) their interaction influence litter mass loss, a measure of decomposition, by leveraging high-throughput molecular methods. To do this, climatic variables (precipitation, temperature) and features of the fungal endophyte community (biomass, species composition, enzyme activity, gene expression) will be correlated to the loss of litter mass or specific carbon compounds to identify the factors that best explain differences in litter decomposition rate across a climate gradient. This project will identify the genetic, ecological or biogeochemical factors that govern how fungal endophytes - ubiquitous symbionts of the plant kingdom - decompose plant litter and contribute to the terrestrial carbon cycle. The fellow will receive mentoring related to the characterization of fungal endophyte gene expression and litter chemistry through the sponsoring scientists as well as facilitate the broader participation of underrepresented groups through mentorship, workshops and climate science education. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.