EvoNit · EVOlutionary and ecosystem consequences of plant-microbial responses to NITrogen
Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2027-01-04 → 2029-01-03
- EU contribution
- €226,421
- Participants
- 3
- Scheme
- HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Project objective
Plant-microbe interactions are ubiquitous and key to understanding biodiversity. These interactions can be underpinned by both ecological (e.g. competition for nutrients) and evolutionary processes (e.g. plant evolution). When these processes interact, they can create eco-evolutionary feedbacks, which may drive ecosystem functioning. However, empirical evidence on how eco-evolutionary dynamics scale up to influence ecosystem processes remains scarce. The EvoNit project aims to empirically test if plants and soil microorganisms co-respond to selection, and if this co-response influences ecosystem processes. Using the nitrogen (N) cycle as study system, EvoNit will investigate the eco-evolutionary dynamics of plant interactions with soil microbes responsible for key N transformations: nitrification and denitrification. Building on previous findings, I will harness the standing genetic variation from Arabidopsis thaliana genotypes that reduce soil nitrification or denitrification in a transgenerational experiment. With this plant material, I will specifically test: (i) if plants evolutionarily respond to low N availability by modulating (de)nitrification; (ii) if these plant-microbe interactions influence plant N uptake; and (iii) if resulting impacts on plant productivity and N cycling (including greenhouse gas emission via nitrous oxide fluxes) occur through eco-evolutionary feedbacks, i.e. in ways that cannot be explained by plant evolution alone, microbial evolution alone or ecological interactions. To address these questions, I will combine my experience in plant evolutionary ecology with the hosts’ expertise in microbial ecology (main host) and plant-microbe coevolution (secondment host). EvoNit will apply advanced techniques and interdisciplinary approaches to generate mechanistic understanding of the ecosystem-level consequences of plant-soil interactions, needed to develop more effective strategies for climate change mitigation.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
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Data: CORDIS, © European Union