Dr. Kimberly Komatsu, an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology, has received two new federal grants. A two-year, $183,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will support the project Collaborative Research: Revealing the vast diversity within the legume-rhizobia mutualism. This is a partnership with Harvard University, where UNCG is lead. Komatsu also won a two-year, $300,000 grant from the US Department of Agriculture for her project Plant-soil feedbacks in the legume-rhizobia symbiosis as a key driver of soil health in grazing lands. These awards will expand the research activities of Komatsu’s Community Dynamics Lab where, according to the lab’s website, she and her team investigate “how ecosystem responses to global change drivers are mediated by biotic processes.”
More info about these projects can be found in the abstracts below.
Collaborative Research: Revealing the vast diversity within the legume-rhizobia mutualism (NSF)
This project will examine partnerships between plants in the bean and pea family (legumes) and bacteria that live within their roots. Rhizobial bacteria take nitrogen from the air and turn it into a form that makes it available to plants. Nitrogen is a fundamental element for life on Earth. Legumes provide most of the natural inputs of nitrogen into soil because of their beneficial relationship with rhizobial bacteria. Because of this, legumes are important plants in agriculture as both a food source and a way to naturally fertilize soils. Although the legume plant family has many species, for many of these species, there is no information about their partnerships with rhizobial bacteria. This project will look at the diversity of partnerships between legumes and rhizobial bacteria to solve whether legume species can have few or many bacterial types living within their roots. This research is important for sustainable agriculture and the bioeconomy. The project will also provide training to students underrepresented in STEM. Full abstract via NSF Award Search.
Plant-soil feedbacks in the legume-rhizobia symbiosis as a key driver of soil health in grazing lands (USDA)
Grazing lands make up a large portion of Earth’s land surface and are vital to both food security and the economic well-being of ranchers and rural societies. In addition to these agricultural benefits, grazing lands can contribute significant environmental benefits, such as enhanced nutrient cycling or carbon sequestration from the atmosphere. However, many management practices that promote cattle production come at the expense of environmental sustainability. Here, I propose to harness the power of the well-studied relationship between legume plants and rhizobial bacteria to enhance the environmental benefits provided by grazing lands, while simultaneously improving their agricultural productivity. My proposed research program will focus on turning the current paradigm that legumes are a uniform functional group on its head, to reveal the mechanistic underpinnings of legume diversity and contribution to grazing land function.
