Descripción del proyecto
Comprender la coexistencia vegetal para restaurar la biodiversidad de forma eficaz
La actividad humana y las consecuencias del cambio climático han dado lugar a una crisis mundial de la biodiversidad, que ha provocado importantes pérdidas anticipadas de biodiversidad. Las organizaciones y los países están aplicando políticas para contrarrestar estos efectos negativos, salvaguardar los ecosistemas y facilitar la restauración de la biodiversidad. Sin embargo, la necesidad de un conocimiento más profundo de la coexistencia vegetal supone un reto para estas iniciativas. El equipo del proyecto BelowGround, financiado con fondos europeos, aprovecha la ecología vegetal, del suelo y microbiana, junto con la teoría de la coexistencia, para conocer a fondo la influencia de patógenos y mutualistas en la coexistencia vegetal. Los descubrimientos del proyecto permitirán desarrollar soluciones a medida vitales para la conservación y restauración de los ecosistemas, así como para el fomento de la biodiversidad.
Objetivo
Our planet is in a biodiversity crisis. To counteract biodiversity loss, the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 aims to protect vulnerable ecosystems, reverse ecosystem degradation, and restore biodiversity on agricultural land. However, successful restoration and conservation of plant diversity is hindered by limited understanding of the principles that govern the ability of plant species to coexist and drive plant diversity. My proposed research aims to address the major challenge of restoration and conservation of plant diversity by examining how soil microorganisms contribute to plant species coexistence.
My project will draw together fundamental coexistence theory and state-of-the-art knowledge from plant ecology, microbial ecology and soil ecology to reconcile how pathogens and mutualists drive plant coexistence. To develop successful strategies of conservation and restoration of plant diversity it is critical to define a single predictive theory on the role of soil microbes in plant coexistence. I propose to reconcile pathogen- and mutualist-driven coexistence hypotheses into a single framework by addressing two objectives:
Along a successional vegetation gradient in which belowground interactions switch from pathogen to mutualist dominated, I will 1) identify which pathogenic and mutualistic microbes plants accumulate with increasing intra-specific density, and 2) determine how these soil microbes influence host plant coexistence.
Results will uncover the role of pathogens and mutualists in driving coexistence and whether these different groups of players are mutually exclusive or act simultaneously. This will lay the foundation for urgent tailor-made applied research on the key processes that need conservation and restoration of grassland systems, and uncover the drivers that steer plant community succession towards biodiverse ecosystems.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinador
1011 JV AMSTERDAM
Países Bajos