Linking Microbial Community Structure to Ecosystem Function Using Microbiome Association Mapping and Artificial Ecosystem Selection

dc.contributor.advisorBohannan, Brendan
dc.contributor.authorMorris, Andrew
dc.date.accessioned2022-05-10T15:05:49Z
dc.date.available2022-05-10T15:05:49Z
dc.date.issued2022-05-10
dc.description.abstractMicrobiomes mediate a variety of important ecosystem functions. However,it remains unclear what attributes of the microbiome are important for determining the rate of ecosystem functions. Past attempts to elucidate this relationship have either looked too broadly at microbiome diversity or have assumed a priori that we know which taxa are limiting to the rate of function. To overcome this challenge, I borrowed strategies from population genetics including association mapping and artificial selection to robustly identify microbial markers of ecosystem function. I observed high heritability of methane oxidation rate in soil microbiomes demonstrating that variation in the microbial community can generate variation in ecosystem function independent of the environment. In addition, I characterized soil metagenomes along a land-use change gradient with increasing methane emissions. By looking agnostically across all microbial metabolic pathways, I identifed a surprising relationship between the relative abundance of nitrogen fixation genes and the rate of methane emissions. Using this conceptual framework to investigate biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships will deepen our understanding of microbiome function for ecosystem services and human health. This dissertation includes previously published co-authored material.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1794/27154
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Oregon
dc.rightsAll Rights Reserved.
dc.subjectBiodiversityen_US
dc.subjectCommunity Ecologyen_US
dc.subjectEcosystem Functionen_US
dc.subjectMethaneen_US
dc.subjectMicrobiomeen_US
dc.subjectSoilen_US
dc.titleLinking Microbial Community Structure to Ecosystem Function Using Microbiome Association Mapping and Artificial Ecosystem Selection
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
thesis.degree.disciplineDepartment of Biology
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Oregon
thesis.degree.leveldoctoral
thesis.degree.namePh.D.

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