NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Potential for Diversified Crop Rotations to Promote Solid Phosphorus Cycling in Agroecosystems

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2023, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. The Fellow will lead a project investigating the potential for diversified crop rotations to enhance soil phosphorus cycling in agriculture. Phosphorus is an important plant nutrient as it plays a major role in plant growth and development. In agriculture, phosphorus fertilizers can help meet the nutritional needs of crop plants and maximize crop yields, yet the future practicality of these fertilizers is uncertain due to depleting phosphorus reserves and other environmental concerns. Using long-term research trials, the Fellow will determine if diversified crop rotations can support natural soil phosphorus cycling to help support crop yields while minimizing the need for phosphorus fertilizers in agriculture. This will ultimately help to develop more sustainable and ecologically based management practices for crop production. As part of the project, the Fellow will disseminate findings from their research to farmers and relevant stakeholders through a variety of extension platforms with the University of California Cooperative Extension. The Fellow will also provide research mentorship to undergraduate students from marginalized backgrounds through programs such as the McNair Scholars Program. Lastly, the Fellow will leverage connections at University of California, Davis, Graduate Studies to establish a support organization and programming for postdoctoral scholars from marginalized backgrounds. The overarching hypothesis of the project is that diversified crop rotations will beneficially alter soil physiochemical and biological properties, which will enhance soil phosphorus cycling, plant phosphorus uptake, and productivity. The Fellow will compare soil properties between diversified corn-soybean rotations and non-diversified corn-soybean rotations across four long-term research sites located throughout the Midwest. The Fellow will perform soil physiochemical analyses, including analysis of soil organic matter and total carbon and nitrogen content, to examine the effects of crop rotation on properties relevant to phosphorus cycling, soil metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing to compare microbial taxonomic and functional composition between rotation methods, and corn phenotypic analyses to link changes in soil properties to plant traits. The Fellow will also implement structural equation modeling using the data gathered to study relationships between biotic and abiotic soil properties, phosphorus pools, and plant productivity. The Fellow will disseminate findings from this work through diverse platforms, including farmer outreach and peer-reviewed scientific journal articles. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.