REU: Decomposition in Drylands: Soil Erosion and UV Interactions

This proposal seeks support for one undergraduate scholar to engage in research aimed at improving our understanding of the factors controlling litter decomposition in dryland ecosystems. The REUscholar will be primarily located in Lexington, KYat the University of Kentucky (UK), with PI McCulley. During the first week of the internship, the REUscholar and PI McCulley will develop research objectives that can be completed during the 10 week time period and that will contribute to the broader, collaborative project goals. The REUscholar will then travel to the Santa Rita Experiment Station, south of Tucson, Arizona for 7-10 days to: 1} collect fresh plant material, construct litter bags, perform a short duration litter experiment, and ship the litter to UKfor microbial analysis; 2} meet with collaborating University of Arizona PI's, REU's,graduate students, postdocs, and technicians; and 3) assist with additional project field work with the aim of expanding the REUscholar's knowledge and experience of arid ecosystems. Upon returning from Arizona, the REUscholar will learn how to extract, identify, and quantify microbial communities on the fresh and few days decomposed plant material using a biochemical approach - phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA). More specifically, the scholar's independent project will characterize the fatty acid signatures of fresh, dominant plant material and microbial communities that rapidly develop on this material as it decomposes in its native habitat (in both high and low UV environments, under shrubs and out in the open). As such, the scholar's project will contribute to the overall goal of the collaborative research - to evaluate the direct and indirect effects of UV radiation, vegetation change (grassland-to-shrubland), and soil erosion/deposition in controlling litter decomposition rates in arid ecosystems. The specific content of the REUscholar's independent research project will be developed by the REUscholar in close consultation with PI McCulley.