Functional links of aboveground changes and belowground activity with land use (CRN 2014)
1 Mycorrhizae and bryophytes: an ancient plant-soil fungi association.
2 Paramos (high altitude vegetation) in the Ecuadorian Andes.
3 Mycorrhizae (white) explore soils and aid plant nutrition (Photo by D. Read).
Project information
Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ, Brazil)
Executive summary
Land use and cover change (LUCC) affects the ecological functions which soil microorganisms provide, and that, in turn, affects how they relate to plants. Microorganisms living in symbiosis with plants play an important role in sustaining agriculture and food security. This project looks at how soil microorganisms react to changes in climate and LUCC in different temperate and tropical ecosystems in the Americas.
Goals
Test the hypothesis that the soil carbon sink and ecosystem resilience can be increased by managing a key group of soil microorganisms – arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF)
Document how plant community structure and productivity are linked to AMF diversity and activity
First results
One might expect that the biodiversity of below-ground fungi reacts only slowly to environmental change. However, DNA analysis of dominant AMF taxa has shown shifts in species abundance even between different seasons of the year.
This change in diversity affects their function. Both the diversity and the symbiotic ability of AMF declined so much in warm and dry seasons that the symbiotic relationship between AMF and their host plant may have been lost.
Thus, climate change may have significant below-ground effects, which may reduce the performance of the associated plants.
In the páramos region, project researchers from Bolivia and Ecuador have been successful in using this knowledge to produce bio-fertilizers that increase growth of potatoes. Experiments with other crops are continuing.
Project investigators
Ricardo Luis Louro Berbara – berbara@ufrrj.br
Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ, Brasil)
Co-Investigators
James D. Bever (Indiana Univ., USA), Javier Franco Ponce (PROINPA, Bolivia), Chantal Hamel (SPARC, Canada), Madelin Garciga Otero (UC, Chile), Martin Esqueda Valle (CIAD, Mexico), Karina Proano (ESPE, Ecuador)
Links to other IAI projects
CRN2014 and the TROPIDRY project (see CRN2021) have been collaborating in several joint sites and ecosystems, integrating above and belowground data.
Project web site
Updated 02/2010
información en PDF
Students
Adriana Franca Figueira, PHD, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Ana Villareal, Master, SENESCYT, Ecuador.
Carla da Silva Sousa, PHD, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Carlos Nobrega, PHD, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Eduardo Furrazola, PHD, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Cuba.
Eduardo Mondino, PHD, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Gabriela Castillo, Master, SENESCYT, Ecuador.
Gonzalo Deladier, PHD, Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, Mexico.
Jessica Duchichela, PHD, SENESCYT, Ecuador.
Jose Roberto Silva, PHD, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Juan M Oviedo, Master, Promoción e Investigación de Productos Andinos, Bolivia.
Julia O. Louro, Master, Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, Mexico.
Karina Guedes Correia, PHD, Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Brazil.
Natalia Zatorre, Master, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Nemilson B. de Souza, Undergraduate, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Karina Proano, PHD, SENESCYT, Ecuador.
Rafael Aqüino Thomaz, Master, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Romildo Nicolau Alves, PHD, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Yamir Torres, Master, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Cuba.
Yang Chao, PHD, Semiarid Prairie Agricultural Research Centre, Canada.