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Belowground responses to shifts in plant communities

Project team: David Ellsworth (Western Sydney University), Cat MacDonald (Western Sydney University), Yolima Carrillo (Western Sydney University), Jonathan Plett (Western Sydney University), Adam Frew (Umeå University), Jeff Powell (Western Sydney University), Paul Rymer (Western Sydney University), Aqeel Ahmad (Western Sydney University), Nicole Hynson (University of Hawaii) Eddie Brzostek (West Virginia University) Jenny Bhatnagar (Boston University) Jeffrey Lackmann (University of Houston) Joris Carbonare, (University of Mississippi) Jansen Nipko (Western Sydney University) Asha Thapa (Boston University) 

Project period: 2025 – ongoing

You can find contacts to the Western Sydney University members of the project here

Summary

The objective of the project is briefly to test the hypothesis that understory shifts towards increased C3 dominance under eCO₂ are driving corresponding changes in AM fungal communities and their traits in a manner that decreases C storage in the system.

We have sampled soil, roots, and leaves from C3 and C4 herbaceous plants in the EucFACE rings, as well as roots of Eucalyptus, and plan to have data on biogeochemistry (nutrient pools & mineralization rates, OM fractions, etc.) and microbial communities (ITS sequencing) from all those samples, meta-transcriptomics from a subset of samples, and possibly meta-genomics from a subset of samples.

A greenhouse experiment (factorial C3/C4 plants x eCO₂/aCO₂ soils x  eCO₂/aCO₂ environment) will measure similar things, plus additional AM fungal traits. We also have several modeling projects planned that will utilize all these data to better understand the importance of C3 & C4 vegetation and microbial traits in C/N/P cycling.

We are also collaborating with EucFACE scientists to analyze community, proteins, lipids, and metabolites in the time-series samples from EucFACE.

Findings so far: Data are still emerging, and we have not yet conducted data analyses. Some initial results will be presented at the International Conference on Mycorrhiza in Cairns in July 2026

Publications

None yet. Data are still emerging, and we have not yet conducted data analyses. Some initial results will be presented at the International Conference on Mycorrhiza in Cairns in July 2026. 

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