Presenter(s): Emily Hill—Biology
Faculty Mentor(s): Krista McGuire
Soil microbes are becoming increasingly recognized as significant contributors to agroecosystem processes due to their functions as decomposers, mutualists and pathogens . Monoculture cropping systems are known to harbor high abundances of microbial pathogens specific to the species of plants or animals in cultivation; for this reason, pesticides and fungicides are widely applied across all farming systems, including those that practice sustainable management techniques . However, application of fungicides also negatively affects mutualists such as arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, which provide beneficial ecosystem services such as soil stability, nutrient cycling and amelioration of biotic and abiotic stressors . Despite the ecological and economic stress caused
by the widespread application of pesticides and fungicides, the effects of these agricultural management practices on soil microbial communities remain largely uncharacterized . Here, we aim to understand how various ecological and environmental factors influence shifts in soil microbial community composition and pathogen abundance in vineyard agroecosystems across Oregon . Viticulture is a perennial crop system in which Vitis vinifera is cultivated for wine production . In Oregon, there is a long history of different viticultural practices implemented across distinct growing regions delineated by climate, soils and topography . Vitis plants are highly reliant on AM fungi, which provide both nutritional and nonnutritional benefits to their hosts including uptake and transfer of limiting nutrients and increased resistance to pathogens . Ecological patterns are thus expected to emerge between AM fungal composition and diversity, and the abundances of soilborne pathogens specific to Vitis plants . This project will elucidate these ecological relationships across growing regions and management practices by comparing the AM fungal composition with the abundances of microbial pathogens .