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Weston DJ, Turetsky MR, Johnson MG, Granath G, Lindo Z, Belyea LR, Rice SK, Hanson DT, Engelhardt KAM, Schmutz J, Dorrepaal E, Euskirchen ES, Stenøien HK, Szövényi P, Jackson M, Piatkowski BT, Muchero W, Norby RJ, Kostka JE, Glass JB, Rydin H, Limpens J, Tuittila ES, Ullrich KK, Carrell A, Benscoter BW, Chen JG, Oke TA, Nilsson MB, Ranjan P, Jacobson D, Lilleskov EA, Clymo RS, Shaw AJ. The Sphagnome Project: enabling ecological and evolutionary insights through a genus-level sequencing project. New Phytol 2018; 217:16-25. [PMID: 29076547 DOI: 10.1111/nph.14860] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Considerable progress has been made in ecological and evolutionary genetics with studies demonstrating how genes underlying plant and microbial traits can influence adaptation and even 'extend' to influence community structure and ecosystem level processes. Progress in this area is limited to model systems with deep genetic and genomic resources that often have negligible ecological impact or interest. Thus, important linkages between genetic adaptations and their consequences at organismal and ecological scales are often lacking. Here we introduce the Sphagnome Project, which incorporates genomics into a long-running history of Sphagnum research that has documented unparalleled contributions to peatland ecology, carbon sequestration, biogeochemistry, microbiome research, niche construction, and ecosystem engineering. The Sphagnome Project encompasses a genus-level sequencing effort that represents a new type of model system driven not only by genetic tractability, but by ecologically relevant questions and hypotheses.
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Affiliation(s)
- David J Weston
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA
- Climate Change Science Institute, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA
| | - Merritt R Turetsky
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Matthew G Johnson
- Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, 79414, USA
| | - Gustaf Granath
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7044, SE-750 07, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Zoë Lindo
- Department of Biology, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada
| | - Lisa R Belyea
- School of Geography, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK
| | - Steven K Rice
- Department of Biological Sciences, Union College, Schenectady, NY, 12308, USA
| | - David T Hanson
- Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA
| | - Katharina A M Engelhardt
- Appalachian Lab, University of Maryland Center of Environmental Science, Frostburg, MD, 21532, USA
| | - Jeremy Schmutz
- HudsonAlpha Institute of Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, 35806, USA
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA, 94598, USA
| | - Ellen Dorrepaal
- Climate Impacts Research Center, Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, 98107, Abisko, Sweden
| | | | - Hans K Stenøien
- NTNU University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NO-7491, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Péter Szövényi
- Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Zurich, 8008, Zurich, Switzerland
| | | | | | - Wellington Muchero
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA
| | - Richard J Norby
- Climate Change Science Institute, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA
- Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA
| | - Joel E Kostka
- Schools of Biology and Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
| | - Jennifer B Glass
- Schools of Biology and Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
| | - Håkan Rydin
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, SE-75236, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Juul Limpens
- Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Droevendaalse steeg 3a, NL-6708 PD, Wageningen, the Netherlands
| | - Eeva-Stiina Tuittila
- Peatland and Soil Ecology Group, School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland
| | | | - Alyssa Carrell
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA
| | - Brian W Benscoter
- Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Davie, FL, 33314, USA
| | - Jin-Gui Chen
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA
| | - Tobi A Oke
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Mats B Nilsson
- Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skogsmarksgränd, SE-901 83, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Priya Ranjan
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee, 2431 Joe Johnson Drive, Knoxville, TN, 37996-4561, USA
| | - Daniel Jacobson
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA
| | - Erik A Lilleskov
- US Forest Service, Northern Research Station, 410 MacInnes Dr., Houghton, MI, 49931, USA
| | - R S Clymo
- School of Biological & Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK
| | - A Jonathan Shaw
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
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Cadol D, Elmore AJ, Guinn SM, Engelhardt KAM, Sanders G. Modeled Tradeoffs between Developed Land Protection and Tidal Habitat Maintenance during Rising Sea Levels. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0164875. [PMID: 27788209 PMCID: PMC5082943 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0164875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2016] [Accepted: 10/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Tidal habitats host a diversity of species and provide hydrological services such as shoreline protection and nutrient attenuation. Accretion of sediment and biomass enables tidal marshes and swamps to grow vertically, providing a degree of resilience to rising sea levels. Even if accelerating sea level rise overcomes this vertical resilience, tidal habitats have the potential to migrate inland as they continue to occupy land that falls within the new tide range elevations. The existence of developed land inland of tidal habitats, however, may prevent this migration as efforts are often made to dyke and protect developments. To test the importance of inland migration to maintaining tidal habitat abundance under a range of potential rates of sea level rise, we developed a spatially explicit elevation tracking and habitat switching model, dubbed the Marsh Accretion and Inundation Model (MAIM), which incorporates elevation-dependent net land surface elevation gain functions. We applied the model to the metropolitan Washington, DC region, finding that the abundance of small National Park Service units and other public open space along the tidal Potomac River system provides a refuge to which tidal habitats may retreat to maintain total habitat area even under moderate sea level rise scenarios (0.7 m and 1.1 m rise by 2100). Under a severe sea level rise scenario associated with ice sheet collapse (1.7 m by 2100) habitat area is maintained only if no development is protected from rising water. If all existing development is protected, then 5%, 10%, and 40% of the total tidal habitat area is lost by 2100 for the three sea level rise scenarios tested.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Cadol
- Earth and Environmental Science, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM, 87801, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Andrew J. Elmore
- Appalachian Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Frostburg, MD, 21532, United States of America
| | - Steven M. Guinn
- Appalachian Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Frostburg, MD, 21532, United States of America
| | - Katharina A. M. Engelhardt
- Appalachian Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Frostburg, MD, 21532, United States of America
| | - Geoffrey Sanders
- Center for Urban Ecology, National Park Service, Washington, DC, United States of America
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Elmore AJ, Engelhardt KAM, Cadol D, Palinkas CM. Spatial patterns of plant litter in a tidal freshwater marsh and implications for marsh persistence. Ecol Appl 2016; 26:846-860. [PMID: 27411255 DOI: 10.1890/14-1970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
The maintenance of marsh platform elevation under conditions of sea level rise is dependent on mineral sediment supply to marsh surfaces and conversion of above- and belowground plant biomass to soil organic material. These physical and biological processes interact within the tidal zone, resulting in elevation-dependent processes contributing to marsh accretion. Here, we explore spatial pattern in a variable related to aboveground biomass, plant litter, to reveal its role in the maintenance of marsh surfaces. Plant litter persisting through the dormant season represents the more recalcitrant portion of plant biomass, and as such has an extended period of influence on ecosystem processes. We conducted a field and remote sensing analysis of plant litter height, aboveground biomass, vertical cover, and stem density (collectively termed plant litter structure) at a tidal freshwater marsh located within the Potomac River estuary, USA. LiDAR and field observations show that plant litter structure becomes more prominent with increasing elevation. Spatial patterns in litter structure exhibit stability from year to year and correlate with patterns in soil organic matter content, revealed by measuring the loss on ignition of surface sediments. The amount of mineral material embedded within plant litter decreases with increasing elevation, representing an important tradeoff with litter structure. Therefore, at low elevations where litter structure is short and sparse, the role of plant litter is to capture sediment; at high elevations where litter structure is tall and dense, aboveground litter contributes organic matter to soil development. This organic matter contribution has the potential to eclipse that of belowground biomass as the root:shoot ratio of dominant species at high elevations is low compared to that of dominant species at low elevations. Because of these tradeoffs in mineral and organic matter incorporation into soil across elevation gradients, the rate of marsh surface elevation change is remarkably consistent across elevation. Because of the role of plant litter in marsh ecosystem processes, monitoring and assessment of these dynamic geomorphic marsh landscapes might be streamlined through the measurement of plant litter structure, either via LiDAR technologies or field observation.
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