Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100271
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$452,005.00
Summary
Synthetic microbiome: improving crop nitrogen acquisition and productivity. Challenges to food security under conditions of global climate change are forcing us to increase crop production to feed the growing population. Focusing on the plant–microbe interactions, represent a promising area in the search for tools to address this challenge. This project aims to develop a three-step- framework that allows researchers to systematically and reproducibly investigate crop microbiomes to enable us to ....Synthetic microbiome: improving crop nitrogen acquisition and productivity. Challenges to food security under conditions of global climate change are forcing us to increase crop production to feed the growing population. Focusing on the plant–microbe interactions, represent a promising area in the search for tools to address this challenge. This project aims to develop a three-step- framework that allows researchers to systematically and reproducibly investigate crop microbiomes to enable us to design a ‘Beneficial Biome’, a biologically based solution for improving agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability under constrained conditions, where limited resources are available to fertilize.Read moreRead less
Soil microbial indicators for efficient use of nitrification inhibitors. Soil microbial indicators for efficient use of nitrification inhibitors. This project aims to improve understanding of the efficiency and governing factors of nitrification inhibitors in different agricultural soils. Nitrification inhibitors are widely used to improve nitrogen fertiliser efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas nitrous oxide emissions. However, their effectiveness varies across soil types. One possible reason i ....Soil microbial indicators for efficient use of nitrification inhibitors. Soil microbial indicators for efficient use of nitrification inhibitors. This project aims to improve understanding of the efficiency and governing factors of nitrification inhibitors in different agricultural soils. Nitrification inhibitors are widely used to improve nitrogen fertiliser efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas nitrous oxide emissions. However, their effectiveness varies across soil types. One possible reason is the different microbial communities in these soils. The project will address the key knowledge gaps of interactions between the nitrification inhibitors and the soil functional microbial communities. Anticipated outcomes are sound management strategies to improve fertiliser nitrogen use efficiency in Australian agricultural soils.Read moreRead less
Unraveling the spread of antibiotic resistance genes across soil food webs. The emerging spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment is a major threat to public health and food security. This project aims to develop new knowledge about the key transmission routes of ARGs across multiple trophic levels in soil food webs, and how the interactions of plant, soil and fauna contribute to the profiles of environmental ARGs. Expected outcomes include an improved understanding of the ....Unraveling the spread of antibiotic resistance genes across soil food webs. The emerging spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment is a major threat to public health and food security. This project aims to develop new knowledge about the key transmission routes of ARGs across multiple trophic levels in soil food webs, and how the interactions of plant, soil and fauna contribute to the profiles of environmental ARGs. Expected outcomes include an improved understanding of the role of fauna in regulating ARGs in the soil environment and the spreading mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in soil food webs. This project will contribute to the development of evidence-based interventions to tackle environmental antibiotic resistance, which has benefits for the environment and public health.
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Contribution of comammox bacteria to soil nitrification. This project aims to understand the diversity, activity and environmental relevance of comammox bacteria, the newly-discovered complete nitrifiers, in Australian soils, and to evaluate their relative contributions to nitrification processes compared to other canonical nitrifying prokaryotes. Nitrogen transformations are pivotal microbial processes, with nitrification largely responsible for nitrogen losses through nitrous oxide emissions a ....Contribution of comammox bacteria to soil nitrification. This project aims to understand the diversity, activity and environmental relevance of comammox bacteria, the newly-discovered complete nitrifiers, in Australian soils, and to evaluate their relative contributions to nitrification processes compared to other canonical nitrifying prokaryotes. Nitrogen transformations are pivotal microbial processes, with nitrification largely responsible for nitrogen losses through nitrous oxide emissions and nitrate leaching in the terrestrial ecosystems. The expected outcomes will develop new knowledge on the comammox bacteria and provide novel insights into refined strategies to manipulate nitrification processes for improved nitrogen use efficiency and sustainable agricultural management.Read moreRead less
Reserving nitrogen in soils through microbial nitrate reduction to ammonium. This project aims to identify those microbes able to transform nitrate to ammonium and thus increase soil nitrogen conservation. More than 50 per cent of the nitrogen in fertilisers applied to soils is lost into the environment, which is both a financial loss to farmers and a main anthropogenic source of nitrogen pollution. Some microbes can transform nitrate into ammonium through dissimilatory reduction (DNRA) and thus ....Reserving nitrogen in soils through microbial nitrate reduction to ammonium. This project aims to identify those microbes able to transform nitrate to ammonium and thus increase soil nitrogen conservation. More than 50 per cent of the nitrogen in fertilisers applied to soils is lost into the environment, which is both a financial loss to farmers and a main anthropogenic source of nitrogen pollution. Some microbes can transform nitrate into ammonium through dissimilatory reduction (DNRA) and thus increase soil nitrogen retention. However, the DNRA process and the responsible microbial groups remain largely unknown. This project plans to use isotope tracing and biomolecular approaches to identify those DNRA microbial groups and elucidate the DNRA reaction process. The findings may support the use of DNRA to improve soil nitrogen.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100870
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$342,000.00
Summary
Unravelling the microbial mechanisms of soil nitrous oxide emissions. Soil ecosystems are believed to be the most dominant sources of global nitrous oxide emissions. However, mitigations of nitrous oxide are strongly hindered by lack of knowledge on microbial mechanisms underpinning its production. This project aims to integrate a range of advanced approaches to identify the key nitrogen cycling genes as best predictors of nitrous oxide in field studies, to disentangle relative contribution of m ....Unravelling the microbial mechanisms of soil nitrous oxide emissions. Soil ecosystems are believed to be the most dominant sources of global nitrous oxide emissions. However, mitigations of nitrous oxide are strongly hindered by lack of knowledge on microbial mechanisms underpinning its production. This project aims to integrate a range of advanced approaches to identify the key nitrogen cycling genes as best predictors of nitrous oxide in field studies, to disentangle relative contribution of microbial pathways to nitrous oxide in glasshouse and microcosm studies, and to validate these findings across various land-use types in Australia and China. This will provide a critical framework incorporating microbial data into the nitrous oxide prediction models for better mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.Read moreRead less
How antibiotic resistance is transferred from animal manure to vegetable. This project aims to decipher the transmission routes of antibiotic resistance from animal manure to manured soil and vegetable. Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) threaten human health, but the pathways and mechanisms for transmission of ARGs in the environment are unknown. This project will investigate all the major classes of ARGs in typical animal manure and vegetable form, and possible routes for their transmission fr ....How antibiotic resistance is transferred from animal manure to vegetable. This project aims to decipher the transmission routes of antibiotic resistance from animal manure to manured soil and vegetable. Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) threaten human health, but the pathways and mechanisms for transmission of ARGs in the environment are unknown. This project will investigate all the major classes of ARGs in typical animal manure and vegetable form, and possible routes for their transmission from manure to soil and to vegetable surfaces and endophytic bacterial communities. The results are expected to identify the ARGs indicators likeliest to spread into the food chain, and develop management options to tackle the environmental antibiotic resistance.Read moreRead less