Source: NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF THE SOIL SURFACE MICROBIOME IN GERMINATION, ESTABLISHMENT, AND GROWTH OF RANGELAND PLANTS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1018940
Grant No.
2019-67020-29320
Cumulative Award Amt.
$749,982.00
Proposal No.
2018-08900
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jul 1, 2019
Project End Date
Jun 30, 2025
Grant Year
2019
Program Code
[A1402]- Agricultural Microbiomes in Plant Systems and Natural Resources
Recipient Organization
NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY
1620 STANDLEY DR ACADEMIC RESH A RM 110
LAS CRUCES,NM 88003-1239
Performing Department
Biology
Non Technical Summary
Rangelands are the most pervasive land-use globally and most grazing occurs in drylands. Chronic aridity coupled with high interannual climate variability and low soil nutrient content in dry rangelands can limit native forage production and promote transitions to degraded states. Efforts to restore forage and curb erosion often have low success rates. As a result, understanding how to utilize interactions among soil biological communities and plants to improve restoration efforts is receiving greater attention. Biocrusts are soil surface communities common to drylands. Biocrusts consist of cyanobacteria, lichens, and mosses--all of which are photosynthetic--and various heterotrophic microbes (bacteria and fungi) that consume carbon products produced by photosynthetic organisms. Biocrust assemblages can affect plants via chemical exudations, for example, nitrogen compounds produced to tolerate desiccation in dry environments, but these products vary across biocrust soil-microbiomes dominated by different photoautotrophs. This variation leads to difficulty in predicting the outcomes of biocrust-soil-plant interactions across systems. Understanding how biocrust-microbiome variation affects plant performance could be key to sustainable and economical practices that enhance forage production. Our goal is to quantify the variation within biocrust-soil microbiomes and understand its influence on rangeland plant performance in the presence of drought and grazing. We hypothesize that variation in biocrust photoautotrophs will structure the larger soil microbiome and alter plant-available nutrients and compounds in surface soils with important consequences for plant performance. We will assess plant responses to the combined and individual influences of drought, grazing, and variation in soil microbiomes in field-based settings and greenhouse studies that quantify plant germination, growth, survival, and stress levels using a series of multi-omics approaches in both the plant and soil microbiomes. This research is potentially transformative in its ability to predict plant-soil interactions and improve management of forage production in rangeland systems.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
10201101070100%
Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships;

Subject Of Investigation
0110 - Soil;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology;
Goals / Objectives
Rangelands are the most pervasive land-use globally and most grazing occurs in drylands. Chronic aridity coupled with high interannual climate variability and low soil nutrient content in dry rangelands can limit native forage production and promote transitions to degraded states. Efforts to restore forage and curb erosion often have low success rates. As a result, understanding how to utilize plant-soil interactions, such as with biocrusts, is receiving greater attention. Biocrusts are communities of cyanobacteria, lichens, mosses, and various heterotrophs that can affect plants via chemical exudations which vary across biocrust soil-microbiomes dominated by different photoautotrophs. However, the outcomes of biocrust-soil-plant interactions remain challenging to predict across systems. Understanding how biocrust-microbiome variation affects plant performance could be key to sustainable and economical practices that enhance forage production. Our major goal is to quantify the variation within biocrust-soil microbiomes and understand its influence on rangeland plant performance in the presence of drought and grazing.To meet this research goal, we have outlined three primary objectives and associated sub-goals:(Objective 1) determine howsoil microbiomes arestructured in relation to dominant biocrust photoautotrophs1.1:Measuresoil microbiomecommunity structure as a function of dominant photoautotroph1.2: Determine the influence of exometabolites and other chemical exudates by photoautotrophs on soilheterotrophic communities.(Objective 2) Quantify the effect of variation within the biocrust-soil microbiome on plant germination and seedling survival2.1:Quantify the influence of variation in the biocrust/soil microbiome onpools of soil N, plant-available compounds, and EPS near the soil surface.2.2: Experimentally determine how the chemical forms and concentrations of N and P from biocrust microbiomes will affect plant growth and survival.(Objective 3) Assess biocrust-soil microbiome interactions with plants, and how these interactions affect soil processes under different environmental conditions3.1: Measure the influence of the soil microbiome on soil processes such as N-cycling, and their effects on plant performance in response to drought.3.2:Measure the response of the soil microbiome to grazing pressure and determine how this mayalter plant structure and chemical inputs to the soil layer.
Project Methods
Field experiments:We will establish a full-factorial, complete block experiment that captures existing variation in biocrust microbiomes and in plant species/functional types. We will focus on Pleuraphis jamesii, a grass with the C4 photosystem, and Hesperostipa comata, a grass with the C3 photosystem. These grasses commonly co-occur at relatively high abundances in rangelands of the region. Within each of the 4 biocrust development levels, we will install 5 blocks of the 4 treatments using individual treatment plots of 2.5 m × 5 m in size. Field drought treatments will be implemented with "rain-out" shelters that impose an 80% reduction in incoming precipitation. Field grazing treatments will be achieved using simulated herbivory via clipping with hand-heldtools. Soil moisture and temperature at 5 cm soil depths will be measured with Arduino probes. Plant responses to drought and grazing will be assessed by measures of cover, biomass, tissue chemistry (C, N, and P concentrations), and reproductive output. In addition, we will collect a suite of soil measures in each plot(C, N, and P pools), plant available nitrogen, soil pH, and cover and composition by biological soil crusts.Greenhouse experiments:We will create biocrust-soil mesocosmsusing the same 4 biocrust types as the field experiment by collecting intact crusts from rangelands and placing them on homogenized native soil. Mesocosms will be constructed in pots of ~ 10×10 cm and a depth of 13 cm. Each mesocosm will be seeded with 1 of 4 native plants, including the grasses Pleuraphis jamesii and Hesperostipa comata, and the perennial forb (Sphaeralcea coccina) and the annual grass (Vulpia octoflora). Mesocosms will be sampled at the start of the experiment via metabarcoding and metagenomic approaches to provide baseline data. Greenhouse drought treatments will be implemented at the time of seeding and consist of mesocosms receiving 50% less water than non-droughted treatments. Greenhouse grazing treatments will be implementedusing a similar approach to the field experiment withseedlings clipped at ~5 cm above the soil surface. The clipped plant material will be stored at -20 °C to allow for a pre- and post-grazing comparison of forage quality in relation to biocrust-soil microbiomes and drought effects. Also, we will sample plant leaves to assess modulations in gene expression in response to each treatment × biocrust interaction using transcriptomics along with soil sampling at the start and end of the experiment via metabarcoding and metagenomics to allow for analysis of interactions among plant performance and biocrust-soil microbiomes. Germination timing will be assessed by inspecting mesocosms for germinants daily after seeding, and height, culm numbers, and survival will be monitored every 2 weeks after germination and after clipping is applied. Destructive sampling at the end of the experiment will also allow us to measure above- and below-ground total biomass and tissue chemistry.Metabarcoding: A total of 640 biocrust samples will be processed over the 4 project years based on the proposed field and greenhouse studies (320 from field and 320 from the greenhouse experiments). We will process each crust sample as follows. We will extract DNA from one gram of each biocrust sample. The samples will then be processed using PCR amplification. These PCR products will be quantified by a Qubit fluorometer, and pooled in equimolar amounts into a final sample of ca. 200-250 PCR products per sequence run. The sequence pool will be sequenced on Illumina MiSeq in 2x300 PE base format. Sequences will be de-multiplexed by unique barcode to create a pair of files for each input sample. These pairs will be processed in the standardized pipeline in AMPtk (Palmer 2017) which includes the UPARSE pipeline (Edgar 2013; He et al. 2015) to merge read pairs, remove chimeras, cluster reads into unique OTUs.AMPtk generated OTU tables and taxonomy files will be linked to mapping files which will containing meta- data. We willdetermine alpha and beta diversity measures of crust types and explore patterns in diversity metrics, community composition and structure along the environmental gradients.Metabolomics: We will examine the biocrust and plant leaf tissue from greenhouse and field experiments for the isolation of tissue-specific and biocrust metabolites. We will test the relationships between plant phenotypes from each treatment and metabolites to further characterize the microbiome-plant interaction. To reduce biological variability, we will apply a composite sampling approach to each biological replicate prior to sample extraction. Biocrust samples will be extracted with a similar approach but undergo additional sample preparation by solid phase extraction to concentrate and improve detection limits and analysis.EPS will be isolated and purified from clarified aqueous extracts of biocrust samples and quantified colorimetrically. In addition, the EPS will be characterized by aqueous size exclusion chromatography and refractive index detection for molecular weight distribution and comparison (Zheng et al. 2017). The combination of methods will identify many primary metabolic compounds, of the following chemical classes: amino acids, organic acids, sugars, sugar alcohols, polyamines, plant hormones, EPS, and quorum sensing molecules. We will identify major and significant differences in metabolic pools between tissues, crust types, develop accumulation trends, and quantify the yield, diversity, and distribution of EPS within the mesocosms.Transcriptome Development and Analysis: We will take advantage of the greenhouse experimental design for the core transcriptomic comparisons. For each plant species in the first trial, we will sample young leaf tissues from the same developmental stage from four replicatesper biocrust type and treatment. Data analysis of gene expression variation between treatment types per species will be carried out using both de novo and reference guided approaches. De novo assemblies and expression analysis will take advantage of the suite of tools associated with TRINITY (Haas et al 2013). For reference-guided assemblies we will apply the closest Poaceae relative with a sequenced genome as the reference for each focal species, align reads using STAR (Dobin et al. 2013) and test for differentially expressed genes using a subset of tools in Tuxedo. We will explore expression variation among functional groups between treatments within each species and later compare results between species to identify conserved and unique responses to specific treatments in this experimental system.Data Analysis: Comparisons of all univariate measurements (e.g., soil N concentration, total EPS, plant biomass, etc.) can be accommodated using a number of linear modeling approaches including ANOVA or GLM methods where treatments and crust development level are fixed factors, or via ANCOVA or GLM methods where treatments are fixed effects and biocrust development/community measures are treated as a continuous covariate based on the outcome of metabarcoding efforts. A similar set of analytical approaches are applicable to the greenhouse experiments. Specific linear modeling details will depend on data distribution and measure of homoscedasticity. For analyses that involve multivariate data, particularly analyses linked tothe relationship of soil microbiome communities to metabolite profiles, we will utilize a variety of multivariate methods. Thee approach including PERMANOVAs for comparing soil microbiome community structure across treatments, network analyses to examine the structuring influence of different photoautotrophs on the larger soil microbiome, and hierarchical clustering techniques as recently demonstrated in a study linking biocrust cyanobacterial taxa to exometabolites in lab mesocosms lacking vegetation and sub-crust mineral soils.

Progress 07/01/23 to 06/30/24

Outputs
Target Audience:This project aims to quantify the interactions among plants and soils in dryland environments to identify constraints on plant growth, reproduction, and ecosystem functioning. In the past year, a field project initiated in 2020 was completed after three years of monitoring and the data it yielded were summarizedfor use in multiple products. Additional work, led by a graduate student,in the greenhouse and laboratory settings was planned and initiated during this reporting period. These recent efforts, along with prior and planned work, are intended to provide valuable information on the role of the soil microbiome in shaping rangeland plant communities and forage production. The target audience is anyone interested inthe management of dryland systems open to livestock grazing but specifically encompasses: Decision-makers who influence rangeland management policy and practices. Land managers who address the challengeofbalancing the ecological health of rangeland systems with livestock yield. Academics and other professional scientists who study rangeland systems. Educators and students, particularly those enrolled in natural resource management and ecological majors. Ranchers who are interested in ways to improve their livestock operations while also sustaining the rangelands. Conservation organizations, such as The Nature Conservancy, whichmanage hundreds of thousands of acres of dryland range with current or past livestock grazing pressures. Efforts toward reporting and sharing our work during the past annual reporting period included presentations, pre-prints of work in preparation, and the submission of manuscripts to peer review to support their eventual summary and release to the broad audience described above. Our efforts were effective at sharing our work with students and academic scientists and, to a lesser degree, with general audiences including private landowners and public land managers. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The projecthasprovided formal training opportunities for 2 graduate students, 3 undergraduate students, and 3 early career scientists in the past year. One of the graduate students successfully defended their PhD dissertation, which featured a chapter using data from the project, in July 2024 and the other passed to PhD candidacy in the fall of 2023. The project's design and data were also used in a laboratory activity in WILD 541, an introduction to data management and analysis for 15 first-semester graduate students entering the W.A. Franke College of Forestry at the University of Montana. Efforts to use our project to train and develop future professionals missed our standard for the past year in part because of the relocation of 3 of the 5 PIs. Going forward, the PD will ensure that all collaborators are engaged in efforts to better use the project and its data totrain young scientists. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Over the past year, the project's findings have been widely disseminated through various channels. These include a journal pre-print, two reports currently under peer review, presentations at conferences and seminars, and integration into classroom training for graduate students in data management and analysis. These efforts have successfully shared the project's results with a diverse audience, including academic and agency scientists, land managers, private landowners, and early-career scientists. In total, these activities facilitated direct engagement with 90 individuals during in-person events, while tracking data for the preprint indicates 833 unique interactions online. An effort to create a lesson plan on the importance of dryland soil organisms in shaping plant communities was planned but not completed during the reporting period. Future efforts will focus on generatingthis and similar lesson plans and outreach materials. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the past reporting period, our project successfully provided training to both graduate and undergraduate students while continuing to generate valuable scientific data to meet our research goals. We remain committed to sharing our findings through conferences, seminars, peer-reviewed publications, and social media to engage with our target audiences. However, we have not yet reached our desired level of engagement with key stakeholders, such as land managers and policymakers involved in managing dryland range systems. Additionally, we recognize the need to strengthen connections with audiences beyond academia and government agencies. To address these gaps, we plan to produce research summaries tailored to a broader audience, emphasizing the motivations, value, and impact of our project.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This project aims to quantify the interactions among plants and soils in dryland environments to identify constraints on plant growth, reproduction, and ecosystem functioning. To date,multiple experimental projects have been initiated and some were recently concluded while others areongoing.In the past year, data generated by the project has been featured in two presentations, a doctoral dissertation, a scientificpre-print, and in the preparation of three manuscripts that will be submitted for peer review in the fall of 2024 or spring of 2025. These efforts wereaimed at sharing our findings with rangeland ecologists and managers. In addition, data featured in these products werealsoused in classroom settings to train early career scientists in data management and analysis, thereby exposing 15 first-year graduate students to our research aims and outcomes. Specific accomplishments included: Objective 1: A graduate student presented and defended a thesis product describing the assembly and composition of surface and sub-surface soil microbiomes in relation to biological soil crust covers and soil nutrient conditions. This student has also led efforts to measure metabolite production in these systems.This work remains in preparation for a peer-reviewed manuscript. An ongoing effort to build upon the results to date will be continued by the graduate student as part of her dissertation. Objective 2: Efforts from 2020 and 2021 yielded a large data set on soil microbiomes and their relationships to soil biogeochemical processes and pools. After a lengthy process of data processing, the PD drafted amanuscript summarizing this work inthe spring of 2024. This report will be submitted for peer review in the fall of 2024 and will also be used to produce an outreach bulletin on methods for enhancing rangeland restoration through seeding. A data synthesis effort planned for 2025 will further address objective 2 by linking soil microbiome communities to plant growth. Objective 3: In addition to work linked to objective 2, efforts to address objective 3 included data synthesis work on multiple field experiments performed between 2020 and 2023 and the processing of soil samples to expand our knowledge of soil microbiomes in response to drought and disturbance impacts on rangeland plants. Soil samples were collected from an ongoing experiment, initiated as part of our work in 2019 and 2020, that exposed dryland plant communities to severe drought (using passive interception) and a physical disturbance that mimicked cattle grazing impacts in three dryland systems. > 500 soil samples were collected, covering multiple years in each dryland range system, andwere organized and prepared for DNA/RNA extraction and sequencing to characterize the soil microbiome. These samples will be submitted for extraction and analysis in the fall of 2024 to support our objectives going forward.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Ferrenberg, S., Faist, A., Osborne, B., & Lee, S. (2023). Quantifying potential abiotic drivers of the nurse-plant effect in two dominant shrub species of the northern Chihuahuan Desert. bioRxiv, 2023-11.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Young, K., Winkler, D., Webb, N., & Ferrenberg, S. Land degradation: dryland environment. Cambridge Press.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Ferrenberg, S. Understanding the carbon cycle in dryland systems. Montana Forest Landowners Conference, Helena, MT.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Lee, S. Biological interactions and disturbance in arid ecosystems: examples from the Great Basin, Mojave, and Northern Chihuahuan Deserts.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Lee, S. Biological interactions and disturbance in arid ecosystems: examples from the Great Basin, Mojave, and Northern Chihuahuan Deserts. Department of Biology Seminar Series, New Mexico State University.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Romig, K.B., D.K. James, C.J. Maxwell, B.T. Bestelmeyer, J.R. Brown, S.W. Salley, A.M. Faist (In review). Hidden biodiversity: dryland soil seedbanks across ecological sites and states. Journal of Arid Environments.


Progress 07/01/22 to 06/30/23

Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period, 15 graduate students were served by the project through guest lectures in Forestry and Wildlife courses. These students received a presentation regarding the funded project and were asked to weigh the value of differentdata collected during the project. There were also 2 presentations at international, professional meetings thatfocused on describing our project and results with the target audience being academic scientists and resource managers. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In the past year, the project has supported the training of 1 graduate student as a research assistant and an additionalgraduate studentused experiments set up for our project in their research.In addition, data from the project has been used in a course to support the training of students inbiometry courses. A planned experiment, to begin in the summer/fall of 2023, will provide further opportunities for trainees. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In the past year, we authored one report for peer review(currently under review) and authored multiple conference/symposium presentations that were aimed at both professionals and the public and delivered at international conferences. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will initiate an additionalfield experimentand a greenhouse mesocosm experiment, both aimed at addressing our research Objective 3. We will also continue training graduate and undergraduate students along with efforts to publish and present our findings in professional journals and conferences. In the coming calendar year, we are specifically aiming to broaden the communication of our outcomes to rangeland managers through professional societies and outreach materials, as well as field-trips.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? To date, most of ourprogress hasbeen associated with addressing Objectives 1 and 2. During this reporting period, we completed two experiments and continued to maintain one additional experimentto address our core objectives. We have used data gathered in years 1 through 3 to support several new, peer-reviewed research reports and to deliver a number of presentations aimed at scholars and managers of rangeland systems to communicate our findings. Ongoing work by a Ph.D. student is addressing Objective 3.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Lee, S., Jordan, S., Osborne, B. B., Reed, S., Faist, A., & Ferrenberg, S. (2022, December). Considering the influences of non-linear plant responses to climate variation and disturbances for dryland productivity. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts (Vol. 2022, pp. B13C-08).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Osborne, B. B., Dannenberg, M. P., Jordan, S., Lee, S., Sala, O., Smith, W. K., ... & Reed, S. (2022, December). Climate Regulates the Consequences of Drought and Physical Disturbance for Dryland Ecosystem Structure and Function. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts (Vol. 2022, pp. B13C-03).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Ferrenberg, S., Faist, A.M., Osborne, B., Reed, S.C. & Lee, S.R. (preprint 2023). Quantifying potential drivers of the nurse-plant effect in two dominant shrub species of the northern Chihuahuan Desert.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ferrenberg, S. & Reed, S.C. (2022, November). Forecasting Dryland Ecosystem Vulnerability to Change. In DOD SERDP/ESTCP Annual Webinar Series (Vol. 2022). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeWGl3ya0Ow


Progress 07/01/21 to 06/30/22

Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period, 18 undergraduateand 3 graduate students were served by the project through formal classroom instruction included in Biology 450: Biometry. These students received a presentation regarding the funded project and were asked to manage and analyze datacollected during the project. There were also 4 presentations focused on describing our project and results with the target audience being academic scientists and rangeland managers. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In the past year, the project has supported the training of 1 graduate student as a research assistant and 2 other graduate students have used experiments set up for our project in their research. The project also supported1 post-doctoral researcher and the professional development of 1 technician in the past year. In addition, data from the project has been used in a course to support the training of 17 undergraduate students and 3 graduate studentsin a biometry lesson plan that asked students to consider and analyzedata related to rangeland plant performance. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In the past year, we have produced a combination of peer-reviewed reports and conference/symposium presentations that were aimed at both professionals and the public. The presentations reached several hundred attendees in total. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue our field experiments that were initiated in year one and maintained throughout years 2 and 3 of this project. We will also continue training graduate and undergraduate students along with efforts to publish and present our findings in professional journals and conferences. In the coming calendar year, we are specifically aiming to broaden the communication of our outcomes to rangeland managers through professional societies and outreach materials.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? To date, most of our efforts and progress have been associated with addressing Objectives 1 and 2. During this reporting period, restrictions on travel and on the use of our campus space related to mitigation of COVID-19 continued to affect our research plans and performance. During the past year, however,we have completed twoexperiments and continued to maintain two additional experiments to address our core objectives. We have used data gathered in years 1 through 3to support several new, peer-reviewedresearch reports and to deliver a number of presentations aimed at scholars and managers of rangeland systems to communicate our findings.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Mikenas J, Faist A, Ferrenberg S, Holguin FO, Hooper D, Dominguez A, Pietrasiak N. (2021). Rangeland soil microbiome responses to biocrust and nutrient additions in a greenhouse experiment. Research and Creativity Week, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Mikenas J, Faist A, Ferrenberg S, Holguin FO, Hooper D, Dominguez A, Pietrasiak N. (2021). Rangeland soil microbiome responses to biocrust and nutrient additions in a greenhouse experiment. Annual Biosymposium, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Mikenas J, Faist A, Ferrenberg S, Holguin FO, Hooper D, Dominguez A, Pietrasiak N. (2021). Rangeland soil microbiome responses to biocrust and nutrient additions in a greenhouse experiment. Department of Plant and Enivronmental Sciences Graduate Seminar Series, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ferrenberg, S., Tucker, C. L., Reibold, R., Howell, A., & Reed, S. C. (2022). Quantifying the influence of different biocrust community states and their responses to warming temperatures on soil biogeochemistry in field and mesocosm studies. Geoderma, 409, 115633.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Young, K. E., Ferrenberg, S., Reibold, R., Reed, S. C., Swenson, T., Northen, T., & Darrouzet-Nardi, A. (2022). Vertical movement of soluble carbon and nutrients from biocrusts to subsurface mineral soils. Geoderma, 405, 115495.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Omari, H., Pietrasiak, N., Ferrenberg, S., & Nishiguchi, M. K. (2022). A spatiotemporal framework reveals contrasting factors shape biocrust microbial and microfaunal communities in the Chihuahuan Desert. Geoderma, 405, 115409.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Osborne, B. B., Adler, P., Dannenberg, M. P., Sala, O., Smith, W. K., Terry, T., ... & Reed, S. (2021, December). In hot deserts, drought is a stronger regulator of biogeochemistry over the short-term than physical disturbance. In AGU Fall Meeting 2021. AGU.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Young KE, Reed S, Ferrenberg S, Faist A, Winkler DE, Cort C, Darrouzet-Nardi A. (2021) Using biogeochemical insights to restore drylands now and into the future. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Ecological Society of America, Long Beach, CA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Lee S, Jordan S, Ferrenberg S. (2021). Biological controls on net primary productivity: An example from the Chihuahua Desert. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Ecological Society of America, Long Beach, CA.


Progress 07/01/20 to 06/30/21

Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period, 20 graduate students were served by the project through formal classroom instruction included in Biology 550: Applications of R for Biology. These students received a presentation regarding the funded project and were asked to manage and analyze data that was collected during the project. There were also four public presentations, all delivered online due to NMSU's Covid-19 related travel and gathering restrictions--focused on describing our project and results with the target audience beingacademic scientistsand rangeland managers. Changes/Problems:We made major changes to our experimental design and field setting to accommodate restrictions on travel and gatherings related to the mitigation of Covid-19. These changes have slowed our progress toward addressing some of our research objectives, however, we have still made substantial progress and are confident that our adapted plan will continue to support our work and training opportunities. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In the past year, the project has supported the training of 2 graduate students, 1 undergraduate student, 1 post-doctoral researcher, and the professional development of 1 technician. In addition, data from the project has been used in a courseto support the training of 20 graduate students in learning to use the R statistical environment to manage and analyze rangeland data. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In the past year, we have produced 4 peer-reviewed reports, 1 of which is published, and an MS dissertation that will become available online via ProQuest.In addition, we have given 3 conference/symposium presentations that were open to both professionals and the public online. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue our field experiments that were initiated in year one and maintained throughout year 2 of this project. We will also continue training graduate and undergraduate students along with efforts to publish and present our findings in professional journals and conferences.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? To date, most of our efforts and progress have been associated with addressing our Objectives 1 and 2. During this reporting period, restrictions on travel and on the use of our campus space related to mitigation of COVID-19 continued to affect our research plans and performance. During the past year, we have completedthree experiments and leveraged three available data sets to address our research objectives.We have used data gathered in year 1 to support5research reports, one of which supports Objective 1 and four support Objective 2. Of these reports,1 has been published and 4 are in revision in response to peer-reviews.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Young, K. E., Reed, S. C., Ferrenberg, S., Faist, A., Winkler, D. E., Cort, C., & Darrouzet-Nardi, A. (2021). Incorporating Biogeochemistry into Dryland Restoration. BioScience.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2021 Citation: Omari, H., Pietrasiak, N., Ferrenberg, S., & Nishiguchi, M. (in review). A spatiotemporal framework reveals contrasting factors shape biocrust microbial and microfaunal assemblages in the Chihuahuan Desert. Geoderma.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2021 Citation: Ferrenberg, S., Tucker, C., Howell, A., Reibold, R., & Reed, S.C. (in revision). Quantifying the influence of different biocrust community states and their responses to warming temperatures on soil biogeochemistry in field and mesocosm studies. Geoderma.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2021 Citation: Young, K.E., Ferrenberg, S., Reibold, R., Reed, S.C., Swenson, T., Northen, T. Darouzet-Nardi, A. (in review). Vertical movement of soluble carbon and nutrients from biocrusts to subsurface mineral soils. Geoderma.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Rabinowich, M.S.N. (2021). Mechanisms driving nurseprot�g� plant interactions in the Chihuahuan Desert, USA. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Ferrenberg, S. (2021). Caught between the devil and the clear blue sky: Plant responses to drought, disturbance, and natural enemies across environmental gradients. New Mexico Native Plant Society, Las Cruces, NM.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Ferrenberg, S., Tucker, C., Howell, A., Reibold, R., & Reed, S.C. (2020). Soil biogeochemistry and responses to warming differ among biocrust community states. NSMU Research and Creativity Week.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Rabinowich, M., Osborne, B., Reed, S.C., Faist, A., Ferrenberg, S. (2020). The Role of Nurse Plants in Structuring Vegetation Communities in Drylands. NSMU Research and Creativity Week
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Rabinowich, M., Osborne, B., Reed, S.C., Faist, A., Ferrenberg, S. (2021). Physiological responses of Yucca elata (Soaptree Yucca) to nurse shrub conditions. NMSU, Department of Biology, Annual Spring Biosymposium
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2021 Citation: McCann, E., Reed, S.C., Saud, P., Reibold, R.H., Howell, A., and Faist, A.M. (in revision). Plant growth and biocrust-fire interactions across five North American deserts. Geoderma.


Progress 07/01/19 to 06/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period, 13 graduate students were served by the project through formal classroom instruction included in Biology 568: Communities and Ecosystems. These students received a presentation regarding the funded project and were asked to read and discuss the primary scientific literature related to the topics of the project. Other target audiences, particularly academic scientists and rangeland managers,were not reached during this reporting period due to New Mexico State University's travel restrictions associated with COVID-19 mitigation. Changes/Problems:We made one major change to our research approach during year one. Due to travel restrictions imposed by the state of New Mexico and limitations on the use of our campus space, both in response to risks associated with COVID-19, we were unable to finish the installation and data collection in our Utah field site. Given the continued issues associated with COVID-19 and the cautionary stance assumed by New Mexico and NMSU, we have moved a substantial portion of our research efforts from the Colorado Plateau ecosystem of southern Utah to the Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem of New Mexico. This change gives our research group, particularly our graduate and undergraduate students, greater access to research sits and reduces the impactof ongoing COVID-19 mitigation efforts on our work in year two. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Our first-year accomplishments include the recruitment of two graduate students, efforts to including undergraduate scholars in our research efforts, engagement of two early-career scientists as support staff, and the incorporation ofour data and research efforts in classroom settings to encourage the next-generation of rangeland researchers and managers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?While we had planned to travel to professional society events, mitigation efforts related to COVID-19 prevented us from achieving this goal in year one. We plan to use alternative approaches, including PI webpages, social media, and online events to address our communication goals in year two. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In addition to continuing with the primary research efforts described above, our goals for our second year of support include initiating additional experimental work,sharing our results with professional and lay audiences, including undergraduate scholars in our research efforts, and further incorporating our data and research efforts in classroom settings to encourage the next-generation of rangeland researchers and managers.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Rangelands are the most pervasive land-use globally. Grazing in drylands is most prevalent on soils low in important plant nutrients and high in salts that can increase plant stress. Aridity coupled with low soil nutrientsin dry rangelands can limit forage production and promote transitions to degraded statesthat hinder livestock production. Efforts to restore foragein degraded rangelands often have low success rates. As a result, understanding how to utilize plant-soil interactions to aid rangeland management is of great interest. Microbial communities dominated by fungi and bacteria are a fundamental and pervasive component of soils and can improve fertilityin somecases. Improving the knowledge of the characteristics possessed by microbial community states that will promote sustainable and economical practices that enhance forage productionis a key goal of our project, particularly in the presence of drought and active grazing. Dryland soils, in particular, are commonly covered by a thin, 'crusted' surface resulting from the biological activity of photosynthetic bacteria and other common microbial taxa. This layer is known as a biological soil crust or biocrust and cancover a substantial portion of the ground surface. Biocrusts can prevent soil erosion, impact soil hydrology, and affect plant performance in both positive and negative ways. The types and abundances of the species present in this biocrust surface layer are posited to be the primary determinant of whether a biocrust increases soil fertility and if they are beneficial or negative/neutral for the performance of rangeland plants. We identified 3 primary objectives to guide our work: Objective 1. Determine how soil microbiomes occurring in mineral soils beneath biological soil crusts (biocrust) are structured in relation to the dominant species of photoautotrophs present in the biocrust. Objective 2. Quantify the effect of variation within the biocrust-soil microbiome on plant germination and seedling survival. Objective 3. Assess biocrust-soil microbiome interactions with plants, and how these interactions affect soil processes under different environmental conditions. To date, most of our efforts and progress have been associated with addressing our Objective 1. During this first year, restrictions on travel and on the use of our campusspace related to mitigation of COVID-19 slowed progress.While these conditions delayed our original proposed timeline, we have several important achievements to report from our first year, including: (1) We have initiated three experiments and leveraged three available data sets to address our research objectives. (2) We are on track to submit research papers for peer-review by the end of 2020 and to present these findings to professional colleagues. (3) We have used our efforts to engage multiple undergraduate and graduate students and to further the career development of two technicians aiding with the project. (4) We have forged collaborative relationships with professional rangeland scientists from the U.S. Geological Surveyand with rangeland managers from the Bureau of Land Management that will support our project objectives moving forward. Much of our efforts in year one focused on addressing our Objective 1, which has two sub-objectives Objective 1.1, characterize the soil microbiome community structure as a function of dominant photoautotrophs in the biocrust; and Objective 1.2, quantify the influence of exometabolites and other chemical exudates from the photoautotrophs on soil heterotrophic communities. Experimental effort: Major activities completed in support of objective 1.1 includes the planning and initiation of a greenhouseexperimentaimed atdisentanglingthe interactions of surface biocrusts from sub-soil microbes in relation to different levels of soil nutrient availability. This experiment also supports our efforts to address Objectives 1.2 and multiple aspects of Objective 2. We have initiated this experiment by beginning the construction of mesocosms using soil sourced from active rangeland. Mesocosms are then either covered with biocrust from the same active rangeland or left bare. Mesocosms are further divided into high vs. low nutrient amendments and into groups that receive a simple carbon addition or no carbon addition. The addition of simple, labile carbon to soils promotes soil microbial activity and is a straightforward approach to manipulate soil microbial communities and subsequently examine their influence on soil fertility and plant growth. Through a combination of biogeochemical assessments, plant performance metrics, and characterization of soil microbial communities among the treatments, this effortwill elucidate how the interactions among microbes within biocrusts and sub-soils interact to shape soil nutrient pools and to affect plant performance. Existing data set: In addition to an experimental approach to assessing biocrust-soil interactions, we leverage an existing data set to address Objective 1.1. This data set was compiled by a graduate student working primarily with PI Pietrasiak and further supported by PI Ferrenberg and included data characterizing soil biogeochemical properties and the composition of soil microbiota--including microfloral and microfaunal taxa--associated with different biocrust types and vegetation covers in an active rangeland setting of the Chihuahuan Desert, New Mexico. Analyses indicated that the bacterial and fungal components of the soil microbiome of grazed systems were strongly influenced by the community state of the surface biocrust cover. To date, we have completed or initiated several activities that address our Objective 1.2, which aims to quantify the influence of exometabolites and other chemical exudates from the photoautotrophs on soil heterotrophic communities. Experimental effort: As described above, we have initiated a greenhouse-based experimentthat will disentangle the interactions of surface biocrusts from sub-soil microbes in relation to different levels of soil nutrient availability. Existing data sets: In addition to an experimental approach, we leveraged two existing data sets to address Objective 1.2. The firstconsidered the relative importance of direct vs. indirect pathways through which biocrusts may affect key soil processes and nutrient pools from active rangeland. This study explored the influence of early-successional (ESB) vs. late-successional (LSB) biocrust community states on soil biogeochemistry through a mix of in situ (active rangeland) and greenhouse studies that included a warming treatment mimicking the mid-range emission scenario for climate warming by the end of the 21st century in the study region projected by ensemble models. Results from this study indicated that in situ rangeland soils were less 'fertile' under ESB than LSB. Comparisons of leachate collected from biocrusts in a greenhouse experiment revealed greater inputs of total N and organic C by LSB relative to ESB, but similar inputs of P and inorganic N among the communities. In the greenhouse experiment,all mesocosms exhibited a loss of P, N, and organic C during this relatively short experiment. However, LSB reduced the loss of N relative to ESB.Overall, these results suggested a stabilizing influence of LSB on soil fertility--possibly due to greater overall biomass in LSB vs. ESB--which, over time, could be a key driver underlying commonly observed differences in soil nutrient pools among biocrust community states in natural settings. However, ESB had an approximately 23% greater relative effect on biogeochemical properties of mineral soils than did LSBsuggesting that biocrust influences on ecosystem processes are greater when soil nutrients are found at lower concentrations. This result highlights the potential value of even poorly developed biocrusts for improving forage production and quality in rangelands.?

Publications