CAREER: The Role of Common Mycorrhizal Networks in the Establishment, Environmental Change, and Persistence of an Invasive Plant Species in the Tallgrass Prairie

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).

This work will study how fungi affect one of the most expensive environmental issues in the US - invasive species. Most plants in the world feed sugars to the mycorrhizal fungi living in their roots. In return, the mycorrhizal fungi forage the soil for mineral nutrients and provide them to their plant hosts.

While in the soil, the fungi often encounter, and colonize a neighboring root system, connecting the plants in a mycorrhizal network. The work will investigate how mycorrhizal networks affect interactions between Canada Thistle, or “the worst weed in the US,” and native prairie plants. The research will also examine if mycorrhizal networks connected to Canada Thistle change the makeup of the soil fungal community.

Finally, the work will investigate if this change enables Canada Thistle to persist in prairies long-term. The researcher will train first-generation and under-represented minority college and high school students, addressing a national need to train a diverse STEM workforce. As part of the CAREER activities, the researcher will also develop and broadly disseminate plant science course materials for multiple levels of the college curriculum.

Finally, the researcher will provide professional development to environmental science teachers from areas with high populations of underrepresented students. Teachers will learn how to transform prescriptive lab exercises into inquiry-based activities that teach the nature of science. These activities will assist the researcher in attaining a career that is balanced by both research and teaching.

The proposed work will incorporate common mycorrhizal networks (CMNs) into existing theories and hypotheses about plant invasions, community structuring, and functioning of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in nature. The research will examine the mechanistic role of CMNs in facilitating introduced, exotic species to 1) establish in new habitats, 2) change the biotic environment, and 3) persist within introduced areas.

Using stable isotope tracing, the researcher will examine the first and most important interaction in establishing invasive species, competition with native plants, by examining the mechanisms of carbon provisioning and nitrogen transfer within CMNs. In a field study using Next-Generation Illumina MiSeq sequencing, she will examine how invasive species alter arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities by utilizing CMNs.

Finally, the PI will test the role of CMNs in allowing Canada Thistle to persist through plant-soil feedbacks. The project will improve plant and scientific literacy of college students with course-based research experiences whose results synergistically inform the research. Additionally, the PI will provide professional development to K-12 science teachers on inquiry-based teaching in environmental science and biology.

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.