Ungerer, Mark: Kansas State University (Project Lead)
Project Funding:
2013 - 2018
NRA: 2013 NSF
Funded by Other US Funding: NSF Project Managed by Woody Turner, NASA
Abstract:
Drought is a pervasive factor that structures grasslands worldwide. Yet little is known about the genetic basis of drought tolerance, how drought-tolerance has evolved, how it is distributed geographically, and what its potential role is in determining future grassland productivity. In this research, the investigators will determine physiological drought tolerance and associated anatomical and physiological traits for 400 species of grass distributed across eight major evolutionary groups and broad geographic and environmental ranges. To better understand the genetics of grasses, gene expression will be examined as well as root and leaf anatomy, morphology, and physiology. With new sequence data complementing current efforts, the phylogenetic relationships among the 400 species and their environmental niche spaces will be determined. The research will also parameterize models of global productivity in the context of drought, coupling data on drought tolerance with gas exchange and environmental data, which will be critical in modeling responses of vegetation to future climate change. Understanding the different dimensions of drought tolerance and photosynthesis will contribute broadly to our understanding of grasslands in a way that could impact everything from crop selection to predictions of future global function. Additionally, this project will recruit underrepresented individuals at the graduate and post-doctoral level, will contribute to multiple public datasets, and will develop educational materials such as a temporary exhibit on the phylogeny of grasses and grass roots to the new Flint Hills Discovery Center in Manhattan, KS
Publications:
Attigala, L., Gallaher, T., Nason, J., Clark, L. G. 2017. Genetic diversity and population structure of the threatened temperate woody bamboo Kuruna debilis (Poaceae: Bambusoideae: Arundinarieae) from Sri Lanka based on microsatellite analysis. Journal of the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka. 45(1), 53. DOI: 10.4038/jnsfsr.v45i1.8038
Attigala, L., Wysocki, W. P., Duvall, M. R., Clark, L. G. 2016. Phylogenetic estimation and morphological evolution of Arundinarieae (Bambusoideae: Poaceae) based on plastome phylogenomic analysis. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 101, 111-121. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2016.05.008
Burke, S. V., Lin, C., Wysocki, W. P., Clark, L. G., Duvall, M. R. 2016. Phylogenomics and Plastome Evolution of Tropical Forest Grasses (Leptaspis, Streptochaeta: Poaceae). Frontiers in Plant Science. 7. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2016.01993
Cotton, J. L., Wysocki, W. P., Clark, L. G., Kelchner, S. A., Pires, J. C., Edger, P. P., Mayfield-Jones, D., Duvall, M. R. 2015. Resolving deep relationships of PACMAD grasses: a phylogenomic approach. BMC Plant Biology. 15(1). DOI: 10.1186/s12870-015-0563-9
Craine, J. M., Brookshire, E. N. J., Cramer, M. D., Hasselquist, N. J., Koba, K., Marin-Spiotta, E., Wang, L. 2015. Ecological interpretations of nitrogen isotope ratios of terrestrial plants and soils. Plant and Soil. 396(1-2), 1-26. DOI: 10.1007/s11104-015-2542-1
Craine, J. M., Towne, E. G., Elmore, A. 2015. Intra-annual bison body mass trajectories in a tallgrass prairie. Mammal Research. 60(3), 263-270. DOI: 10.1007/s13364-015-0227-z
Duvall, M. R., Fisher, A. E., Columbus, J. T., Ingram, A. L., Wysocki, W. P., Burke, S. V., Clark, L. G., Kelchner, S. A. 2016. Phylogenomics and Plastome Evolution of the Chloridoid Grasses (Chloridoideae: Poaceae). International Journal of Plant Sciences. 177(3), 235-246. DOI: 10.1086/684526
Duvall, M. R., Yadav, S. R., Burke, S. V., Wysocki, W. P. 2017. Grass plastomes reveal unexpected paraphyly with endemic species of Micrairoideae from India and new haplotype markers in Arundinoideae. American Journal of Botany. 104(2), 286-295. DOI: 10.3732/ajb.1600285
Feeney, G. 1990. Comment: On the Uncertainty of Population Projections. Population and Development Review. 16, 72. DOI: 10.2307/2808063
Griffith, D. M., Cotton, J. M., Powell, R. L., Sheldon, N. D., Still, C. J. 2017. Multi-century stasis in C
3
and C
4
grass distributions across the contiguous United States since the industrial revolution. Journal of Biogeography. 44(11), 2564-2574. DOI: 10.1111/jbi.13061
Orton, L. M., Burke, S. V., Wysocki, W. P., Duvall, M. R. 2016. Plastid phylogenomic study of species within the genus Zea: rates and patterns of three classes of microstructural changes. Current Genetics. 63(2), 311-323. DOI: 10.1007/s00294-016-0637-8
Wysocki, W. P., Burke, S. V., Swingley, W. D., Duvall, M. R. 2016. The First Complete Plastid Genome from Joinvilleaceae (J. ascendens; Poales) Shows Unique and Unpredicted Rearrangements. PLOS ONE. 11(9), e0163218. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163218
Wysocki, W. P., Ruiz-Sanchez, E., Yin, Y., Duvall, M. R. 2016. The floral transcriptomes of four bamboo species (Bambusoideae; Poaceae): support for common ancestry among woody bamboos. BMC Genomics. 17(1). DOI: 10.1186/s12864-016-2707-1
More details may be found in the following project profile(s):
