Soil Microbial Diversity and the Influence on Stress Response in Hybrid Poplar
Open Access
- Author:
- Herr, Joshua Robert
- Graduate Program:
- Plant Biology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- February 14, 2013
- Committee Members:
- John Edward Carlson, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Claude Walker Depamphilis, Committee Member
Seogchan Kang, Committee Member
Istvan Albert, Committee Member - Keywords:
- Microbial Ecology
Populus
Bioenergy
Next-Generation Sequencing
Genomics
Jasmonic Acid Pathway
Stress Response - Abstract:
- Macro- and microbial organisms naturally inundate plants and these organisms may be beneficial or pathogenic. Forest trees are particularly interesting for the wide array of microorganisms they come into contact with along with the complexity of stresses that are subjected upon them year after year. Additionally, not only being environmentally important, trees are the focus of a shifting economy based on cellulosic bioenergy. To meet global expectations and current benchmarks, we, as a society, will have to figure out how to grow trees faster, with more yield, with less inputs, and with a greater incidence of climate induced stress, which comes in many forms. The advancement of a new “green” revolution will have to take into account microorganisms that interact with these trees, but our understanding of these interactions is lacking in many ways. This dissertation is a small contribution to fill a large gap in our knowledge of forest tree stress responses, microbial diversity associated with native forests and also Populus hybrids planted as bioenergy crops. Additionally, there are chapters included here on the identification of fungal species from nucleotide data and methods to improve short rotation woody crops (SRWCs) for increased yield and sustainability.