Category: Biodiversity

Grant awarded to study how plants affect microbiomes

Post author By jcoker
Post date October 8, 2020

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VT News | October 6, 2020

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For centuries, scientists have worked above ground, studying plants and their effect on biodiversity. Lying below the scientists’ feet, though, is a world with even richer biodiversity — the soil.

There are an estimated 1 billion cells and thousands of species of microbes in a single gram of soil, making it an extremely complex microbiome.

To help understand the complexity of soil microbiomes and how cover crops can help manage them, a four-year $500,000 grant was awarded to a team of Virginia Tech interdisciplinary researchers by the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

The project integrates key agricultural concepts of cover crops – the microbiome, biodiversity, yield, and soil health – to build a whole-system perspective. The project is being led by Brian Badgley, an associate professor of environmental microbiology, and Jacob Barney, associate professor of invasive plant ecology — both in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; and Brian Strahm, an associate professor of forest resources and environmental conservation in the College of Natural Resources and Environment. All three are affiliated faculty members of the Global Change Center and Fralin Life Sciences Institute.

The soil microbiome has strong effects on how ecosystems function but is difficult to directly alter. The team is researching whether or not crop mixtures can be designed to change it indirectly with predictable outcomes and benefits.

The team will conduct their work at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Kentland Farm.

The underlying principle behind the work is to examine how plants affect soil microorganisms, which has mostly been researched looking at only how a single plant affects the soil.

The research team will conduct their work on soil microbiomes at Kentland Farm. Photo credit: Olivia Coleman

“We don’t have a really good understanding of the aggregate effect on soil microorganisms when we combine multiple plant species,” Badgley said. “By investigating underlying rules about how that happens, we hope to better understand how those effects scale up as you add more plant diversity.”

Cover crops make an excellent model for that because a cover crop mixture could comprise up to five plant species, which, when compared to a giant field of nothing but corn, is quite a bit of diversity.

“On the other hand, cover crop systems are still relatively simple plant communities that will, hopefully, make it easier to see some of these important signals about which parts of the soil microbiome are changing,” Badgley said. “What we learn about cover crops and agricultural sustainability has the added benefit to farmers of direct application in the field. However, by identifying the underlying relationships, we hope that results will also have applied benefits in other contexts, such as ecosystem restoration and potentially even landscaping and gardening.”

Each of the researchers brings a unique perspective into the mix, allowing them to analyze the whole complex system.

“In the end, we want to design mixtures that maximize plant diversity in different ways – either plant characteristics or the diversity of soil microorganisms that they recruit – based on results from individual plants,” Badgley said. “We then hope to understand whether different types of plant diversity ultimately change how the whole system will function.”

If that’s achieved, the research team could mix plants in the field for particular effects on soil microorganisms.

To better support the research, the grant will fund two Ph.D. candidates during its four-year run.

— Written by Max Esterhuizen

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CONTACTS:

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Suzanne Irby

Michael Stowe
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Announcements Biodiversity Faculty Spotlight Global Change Research

Walking a fine line: How chemical diversity in plants facilitates plant-animal interactions

Post author By jcoker
Post date September 10, 2020

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VT News | September 9, 2020

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We aren’t the only beings who enjoy feasting on tasty fruits like apples, berries, peaches, and oranges. Species like bats, monkeys, bears, birds, and even fish consume fruits — and plants count on them to do so.

Wildlife disperse their seeds by eating the fruit and defecating the seed elsewhere, thus carrying the fruit farther away and spreading the next generation of that plant. But attracting wildlife might also mean attracting harmful organisms, like some species of fungi.

Plants walk a fine line between attraction and repulsion, and to do this, they evolved to become complex chemical factories. Chemical ecologists at the Whitehead Lab at Virginia Tech are working to uncover why plants have such diverse chemicals and to determine the functions of these chemicals in plant-microbe and plant-animal interactions.

“There is still so much we don’t know about the chemical compounds plants use to mediate these complicated interactions. As we continue to lose global biodiversity, we are also losing chemical diversity and the chance for discovery,” said Lauren Maynard, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Biological Sciences within the College of Science.

Piper sancti-felicis is a neotropical shrub related to Piper nigrum, which produces black peppercorn. Although P. sancti-felicis isn’t as economically important as its peppery cousin, it fulfills an important ecological role as one of the first plants to colonize a recently disturbed area. It also serves as an important food source for wildlife, especially bats and birds.

The research team on a Piper expedition in Barva Volcano National Park in Costa Rica. From left to right: Susan Whitehead, Lauren Maynard, Juan Pineda (Organization for Tropical Studies), Orlando Vargas Ramírez (Organization for Tropical Studies), Gerald Schneider (Virginia Tech), and Juan Chaves (Barva Volcano National Park).Photo courtesy of Lauren Maynard. — The research team on a Piper expedition in Barva Volcano National Park in Costa Rica. From left to right: Susan Whitehead, Lauren Maynard, Juan Pineda (Organization for Tropical Studies), Orlando Vargas Ramírez (Organization for Tropical Studies), Gerald Schneider (Virginia Tech), and Juan Chaves (Barva Volcano National Park). Photo courtesy of Lauren Maynard.

At La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica, Maynard and a team of international ecologists worked to better understand the evolutionary ecology of P. sancti-felicis. Their findings were recently published in Ecology and serve as a step forward in understanding why plants have such great chemical diversity.

By analyzing the samples, the team discovered 10 previously undocumented alkenylphenol compounds in P. sancti-felicis. Alkenylphenols are rare in the plant kingdom, as they have been reported only in four plant families.

The alkenylphenol compounds were not distributed evenly across the plant, though. Maynard found that fruit pulp had the highest concentrations and diversity of alkenylphenol compounds, while leaves and seeds had only a few compounds at detectable levels. Later, a pattern emerged: Levels of alkenylphenol were highest as flowers developed into unripe pulp, but then decreased as the pulp ripened.

When Maynard and her collaborators tested alkenylphenols with different species of fruit fungi, they found that the alkenylphenols had antifungal properties. But those same compounds also made the fruits less tasty to bats, which are the plant’s main seed dispersers.

This is a delicate balance: high levels of alkenylphenols protected the fruit from harmful fungi as it developed, but when it ripened, alkenylphenol levels dwindled so that bats would be interested in eating it.

“Many fungal pathogens attack ripe fruits and can make fruits unattractive to dispersers, or worse, completely destroy the seeds. Our study suggests that these toxins represent a trade-off in fruits: They do deter some potential beneficial partners, but the benefits they provide in terms of protecting seeds outweigh those costs,” said Susan Whitehead, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences.

This study is the first to document an ecological role of alkenylphenols. Chemical interactions in the plant kingdom are not easy to see, but they play a crucial role in balancing trade-offs in various interactions. In the case of P. sancti-felicis, alkenylphenols help the plant walk the fine line between appealing to seed dispersers and repelling harmful fungi.

“Finding the nonlinear pattern of alkenylphenol investment across fruit development was really exciting. It suggests that the main function of the compounds is defense,” said Maynard, who is also an Interfaces of Global Change Fellow in the Global Change Center, housed in the Fralin Life Sciences Institute.

This discovery helps researchers understand the nuances of tropical forest ecology and how chemical diversity in plants helps maintain that delicate balance. Plant chemical defenses have mostly been studied in leaves of plants, so this new discovery furthers scientists’ understanding of how and why these compounds are crucial in fruits. And because fruits are the vehicle for seed dispersal, these chemicals play a significant ecological role.

“This study advanced our understanding of how tropical forests work by bringing together scientists and expertise from multiple fields of study: plant ecology, animal behavior, chemistry, and microbiology,” said Whitehead, who is also an affiliated faculty member of the Global Change Center and the Fralin Life Sciences Institute.

The Whitehead Lab has several ongoing projects focused on plant chemistry and seed dispersal at La Selva Biological Station. Since international travel is not possible at the moment, the team hopes to resume their research when it is safe to do so.

– Written by Rasha Aridi

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CONTACT:

Kristin Rose Jutras
(540) 231-6614

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Accolades Announcements Biodiversity Geology Research

Sterling Nesbitt receives NSF CAREER award to study the evolution of vertebrate communities during the Triassic Period

Post author By jcoker
Post date August 28, 2020

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VT News | August 24 2020

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Approximately 252 million years ago, 95 percent of all life on Earth was destroyed in what was the largest mass extinction in Earth’s history. But not long after, there was a sudden surge of reptilian diversity that coursed throughout the land, in the oceans, and in the skies.

After receiving a five-year Faculty Early CAREER Development Program award totaling $622,222 from the National Science Foundation, Sterling Nesbitt, an associate professor of geobiology in the Department of Geosciences in the College of Science, and a team of researchers are gearing up for a new field project to learn more about how extinction events — and time itself — drive evolution in vertebrate communities.

“Do communities persist for millions of years? Are the communities that we see outside our very windows always in this state of change or are they pretty stable and it takes a lot of pushing from a natural disaster to move them to a new state?,” asks Nesbitt, an affiliated faculty member of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute and the Global Change Center.

To answer these questions, Nesbitt has chosen to explore a critical time in Earth’s history: the Triassic Period. This time period faced a multitude of catastrophic events, but it was also during this time when key groups of present-day vertebrates — including mammals, turtles, lissamphibians, and squamates — originated.

Associate Professor Sterling Nesbitt poses for. photograph inside Hahn Hall North — Associate Professor Sterling Nesbitt

Nesbitt and his team will focus their efforts on the Petrified Forest National Park. Located in northeastern Arizona, the park is renowned for its giant fossilized trees that date back to the Late Triassic period. Among the trees, paleontologists have found entire fossil communities that have lasted for at least 15 to 20 million years, making this the perfect place to find fossils for their research.

With a team of undergraduate and graduate students, and fellow faculty, Nesbitt will be excavating new fossils from areas within and around Petrified Forest National Park. In addition to collecting new data, the team will visit museums and institutions that already have information from this area, such as the University of California, Berkeley and the American Museum of Natural History.

“As paleontologists, our work is almost detective-like, and our hypotheses about how animals lived and interacted can only be based on the fossils, and therefore, the data we collect,” said Michelle Stocker, an assistant professor of geobiology in the Department of Geosciences, and also an affiliated faculty member of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute and the Global Change Center.

“By focusing on the interconnectivity of these precise locations and time periods, and collecting both large and small fossil remains, we will be able to construct a much richer and more accurate idea of the types or lack of changes that occurred during the Triassic,” Stocker added.

A Virginia Tech team of paleontologists -- composed of undergraduates and graduate students, and faculty -- excavate a rich fossil site from the Triassic Period at Petrified Forest National Park. In the photo, the fossil diggers have their backs to the camera as they work on rocky terrain under a blue sky. Photo courtesy of Sterling Nesbitt. — A Virginia Tech team of paleontologists — composed of undergraduates and graduate students, and faculty — excavate a rich fossil site from the Triassic Period at Petrified Forest National Park. Photo courtesy of Sterling Nesbitt.

The team will also conduct an extension of the Discoveries in Geosciences (DIG) Field School, a K-12 education program created by University of Washington, which brings STEM teachers out to Petrified Forest National Park, where they work alongside researchers. Then they can apply what they have learned to paleontology-related activities in the classroom.

Most teachers from the original program represent the northwestern United States. In an effort to increase diversity, the team will be recruiting teachers from the southeastern United States and Native American groups throughout the southwest, specifically the Zuni and the Navajo Nesbitt said.

“Our hypothesis is that the communities are actually really similar for a really long period of time. In the Triassic, it was essentially the same community again and again but with slightly different species. They looked really similar and probably had similar ecological roles,” said Nesbitt.

-Written by Kendall Daniels of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute.

Two College of Science faculty members receive 2019 SCHEV Outstanding Faculty Award

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Biodiversity Blog Conservation Faculty Spotlight Global Change Science Communication Uncategorized Water

One fish, two fish: merging marine animal tracking with fishing fleet movements

Post author By jcoker
Post date August 20, 2020

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VT News | August 19, 2020

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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimated in 2018 that 34.2 percent of the world’s fish stocks were overfished, a worrying trend that has significant impacts on ocean environments and the fishing industries that utilize them.

Satellite technology has increased the capacities of researchers and scientists to collect data about marine animals while tracking the movements of commercial fishing vessels, two crucial drivers in the effort to maintain a healthy ocean ecosystem.

Virginia Tech collaborated with Stanford University and Global Fishing Watch to host “Fish and Ships,” an online workshop connecting researchers from around the world to discuss ways in which the merging of these two data sets might answer critical questions about human impacts on ocean biodiversity and sustainability. Participants brainstormed research approaches on overlapping species habitat maps with the data for national fishing fleet positions and discussed how emerging technologies can better model ocean dynamics.

“We’re in a new age in fisheries management,” said Assistant Professor Francesco Ferretti, of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment, who coordinated the workshop. “Just a few years ago we had to rely mostly on what the fishers were telling us. Now we have a huge amount of data from satellites that track marine fishing vessels. From that data we can use models to track, predict, and characterize fishing operations around the world.”

Much of the fishing vessel data discussed was provided by Global Fishing Watch, which used the automatic identification system to track the movements of approximately 70,000 industrial fishing vessels from 2012 to 2016, resulting in the first “footprint map” of fishing fleet movement around the world. This map provides a crucial perspective on both the reach of commercial fishing and what drivers are potentially influencing the industry.

At the same time that fishing vessels are “pinging” data about where they are fishing, electronic tags on broad-ranging fish, such as tuna, swordfish, and sharks, are giving scientists new information about the movements of marine animals across the world’s oceans.

“We’re starting to do overlaps of these two data sets to see how much they cross paths,” explained Ferretti, a faculty member in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation. “One goal is to develop a landscape of interactions so we can understand the ways that fishing impacts fish populations. From that information, we can go further, perhaps developing guidelines to help manage the fishing industry and provide data that will improve its efficiency while allowing ocean marine animal populations a chance to recover.”

Ferretti notes that workshop participants particularly enjoyed the opportunity to work collaboratively: “This first workshop has been a great success. We created a consortium of more than 70 scientists from academic institutions, national and international management bodies, and nongovernment organizations, all willing to play ball in making the ocean a more transparent place to use resources and benefit from its services.”

The July workshop served as the kickoff meeting; Virginia Tech is planning to host a second workshop to address the inventorying and integration of large data sets and ongoing analyses.

“We are currently taking steps to invite all these scientists to Virginia Tech,” Ferretti said. “While COVID will likely impact our plans, we are considering numerous hosting options, from our Innovation Campus in Washington, D.C., to our marine facilities on the Chesapeake Bay, to our beautiful campus in Blacksburg. The goal will be a full immersion into the technical aspects of the projects brainstormed during the kickoff meeting.”

Ferretti noted that Virginia Tech has a role to play in protecting and preserving our oceans and hopes that the Fish and Ships venture will prove to be a flagship project towards that effort. The Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation is currently bolstering its research and educational opportunities in marine fisheries, ecology, and conservation.

“We are a technical university, and right now the ocean requires technical solutions,” said Ferretti, who is affiliated with the Global Change Center housed in Virginia Tech’s Fralin Life Sciences Institute. “There is a great deal of marine technology being developed to understand our oceans better, and Virginia Tech can play a big role in that domain.”

Written by David Fleming

CONTACT:

Krista Timney
540-231-6157

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Biodiversity Blog Global Change IGC Interfaces of Global Change IGEP Postcards Research Water

Postcard from a Fellow: Daniel Smith’s summer obsession with flumes, fake roots, and Psych

Post author By jcoker
Post date August 13, 2020

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By Daniel Smith | August 9, 2020

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Hi GCC community and friends! Daniel Smith here; I’m a fourth year PhD candidate within the Biological Systems Engineering (BSE) Department and I’ve been an IGC fellow since spring 2019. While at Virginia Tech, my research has focused on how plant roots protect streambank soils from fluvial (water) erosion. I am interested in understanding which plant root processes/mechanisms have the most influence on streambank erosion. I’m excited to share some of the tools I have been using and testing out this summer that will be used to measure soil erosion in my future experiments.

First, let me introduce the epic, room-sized (26 ft long by 3 feet wide) flume. This flume, housed in ICTAS II (the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science), was designed and built to represent water flow within a stream channel. However, a major distinction must be acknowledged between the manmade flume and a natural streambank. The bottom and sides of this flume are made out of smooth, plexiglass material while streams typically have rough bed sediments and grainy bank soil. Many streams also have visible plant roots growing along the streambank face, adding an extra layer to the grainy soil material. Consequently, to measure the effect of plant roots on streambank erosion in the flume, I need to better represent the boundary conditions found in natural streambank settings.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”50732″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Part of this modification was already done from a previous student’s research project. That student built four “flume inserts” made out of a wooden frame and 1-inch thick PVC sheeting. Sand particles were glued onto the PVC sheets, giving them a grainy texture, and a hole was cut into one of the panels so a soil sample could be placed there for erosion testing. For my experiment, I worked with Allen Yoder in the BSE department to make the testing holes larger, replace some broken and/or missing parts, and fix any worn out sections of the frame. Once inside the flume, these updated walls would represent streambank soil that had no vegetation.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”50729″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”50763″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]While the sand wall is a good representation of an unvegetated streambank, I still needed something that matched vegetated streambank soils with roots facing the stream channel. As a result, more PVC sheeting had to be purchased, cut to the correct size, and covered in sand particles. To represent the roots of grassy plants, I decided to use different diameters of flexible, 100% polyester thread. Here’s the fun part: given the size of my PVC sheets, field data from another study revealed I would need ~1500 roots glued onto each insert in order to match what was typically found in the field! Armed with a hand drill, scissors, thread, and E6000 glue, I drilled 200 holes into each PVC sheet, cut and tied different thread diameters together, and individually glued these fake root bundles into each hole. Once complete, these walls can be drilled on top of the sand wall inserts when I am testing rooted soil planted with grassy-type vegetation. Between the tediously long hours of cutting and gluing, I’ve been able to watch multiple documentaries and an unknown amount of the show Psych![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”50898″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]But wait…there’s still more! The sand walls will be used to test erosion in unvegetated soil samples and the polyester threaded walls will be used to measure erosion in soil samples planted with grassy vegetation. What about the woody plants? You guessed it– I’ll need to make another set of walls with fake root material that represents woody (e.g. more rigid) roots. Once that task is completed, I will run some preliminary tests in the flume to make sure the walls are working as desired before the real experiment starts. Needless to say, by the end of this summer, it’s likely that I’ll have watched so many episodes of Psych some of them will start blending together in my head…[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”50741″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][vc_single_image image=”50738″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]In addition to the glorious and time-consuming task of gluing near 800 root bundles (~6000 fake roots in total), I am also taking care of some real plants this summer in the Hahn Horticulture Garden greenhouses. My future experiment will look at using switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and silky dogwood (Cornus amomum) to represent grassy and woody plant roots. This summer I am testing to see how they grow in these PVC pipe chambers to see if any modifications will need to be made later. So far things are growing nicely![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_single_image image=”50767″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”44646″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Daniel Smith is an Interfaces of Global Change fellow working with Dr. Tess Thompson in Virginia Tech’s Department of Biological Systems Engineering. He is studying how plant roots and soil microorganisms impact streambank soil resistance to fluvial erosion.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator style=”shadow”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Biodiversity Blog Geology Global Change IGC Interfaces of Global Change IGEP Postcards Research

Postcard from a Fellow: Ernie Osburn’s year of two summers

Post author By jcoker
Post date July 23, 2020

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By Ernie Osburn | July 23, 2020

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Hello everyone! I hope this postcard finds you healthy and safe. If you don’t know me already, I’m Ernie, an IGC fellow from the Biological Sciences department. My research focuses on how landscape history influences soil microbial communities and their ecosystem functions. My goal today is to entertain you with stories about my summer research adventures. Only one problem – this summer has been a weird one. Not sure if you guys have heard, but there is a global pandemic going on right now that has messed up everyone’s summer plans, including my own. As a result, I find myself most days in an empty lab in a mostly empty building doing tedious, mind-numbing lab work. Nothing too exciting to write about, unfortunately . . . However, I was fortunate enough this year to experience two summers: the current northern hemisphere summer as well as the austral (southern hemisphere) summer while doing field work in Antarctica during January and February. Antarctica is much more interesting than Derring Hall, so I’ll write about my time “on the ice.”

My lab mate Sarah and I began our Antarctic adventure on December 12^th2019. Our travels began with about 24 consecutive hours of airline flights from Roanoke, VA to Washington D.C. to Houston, TX, to Auckland, New Zealand, and finally to Christchurch, New Zealand. Because of time zone changes, we lost a day in transit and landed on December 14^th. The next day, I attended some training sessions and was issued my extreme cold weather gear (ECW) at the U.S. Antarctic Program facility in Christchurch, NZ. Normally, the flight down to “the ice” is scheduled for the following day, but because of weather delays, we did not fly out until December 17^th. The flight was a loud, uncomfortable, 8 hour trip in jump seats on a C-130 with my legs interlocked with those of the people across from me. After the plane landed on the Ross Ice Shelf, we were transported to McMurdo Station.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”50356″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”50357″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]While in Antarctica, about half of my time was spent living at McMurdo station and processing samples in the lab facility there. McMurdo station is located on Ross Island just off the coast of the Antarctic continent and is the central base of operations for the U.S. Antarctic Program. McMurdo is the most populated place in Antarctica and is essentially a functioning town, complete with a fire department, a water treatment facility, a waste management facility, a library, a hair salon, a general store, and three bars. At its busiest, there were more than 1,200 residents at McMurdo, a mixture of researchers, support staff, and military personnel. Everyone on station eats meals in “the galley,” a big cafeteria. The food is generally all frozen and non-perishable, with fresh food available very rarely. So not the best. People live in very close quarters at McMurdo – everyone is assigned a dorm room with 1-3 roommates and bathrooms are all communal. Also, social life at McMurdo is surprisingly lively. Nearly every night of the week there are events, often involving live music. Most notably is the annual New Year’s Eve concert/party called ‘Ice Stock.’ One interesting quirk of McMurdo is that people like to dress up in silly costumes for these events. There are lots of costume options readily available on station (for reasons unknown to me), so I decided to participate a couple of times after coming across some fun animal costumes. In general, if you thought living in Antarctica would be an isolating experience, you would be very wrong! If you’re interested in learning more about life at McMurdo station, check out the ‘Antarctica: A Year on Ice’ documentary, which is free with Amazon Prime.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”50359″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”50367″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The other half of my time in Antarctica was spent living at field camps in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. The Dry Valleys are the largest ice-free areas in Antarctica. For about two months of every year during the austral summer, temperatures get high enough that ice melts, forming streams. These streams flow from glaciers up in the mountains to freshwater lakes at the bottom of each basin. Most of the lake surfaces are covered by a layer of permanent ice, though liquid water ‘moats’ form around the edges of the lakes in the summer months. Most of the lake basins are ‘endorheic,’ meaning they do not have an outflow to the ocean. This causes minerals to accumulate over time, which causes the lakes to form saline layers.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”50354″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”50358″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”50368″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”50369″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Dry Valleys are located on the Antarctic continent across McMurdo Sound and are only accessible by helicopter. My first trip out to the Dry Valleys was my first time flying in a helicopter and it’s a thrilling experience! While living at the field camps, I slept in a tent each night, which is very difficult with 24 hours of daylight. In fact, I did not see the sun set during my entire two month stay in Antarctica! The field camps also have permanent structures, including small lab spaces and a heated living space with a gas or solar powered appliances such as stoves, ovens, refrigerators, and freezers. The field camps even have wi-fi! The only amenity missing from the field camps is running water, but otherwise living in the camps is surprisingly comfortable. While in the Dry Valleys, Sarah and I hiked to various locations in multiple lake basins to sample soils and microbial mats. These microbial mats are the “forests” of the Dry Valleys and are the most conspicuous life found there. The mats form in lakes, streams, and wet soils, and there are green, red, orange, and black mat varieties, each composed of different microbial taxa. Our goal with these samples is to understand how differences in soil nutrient availability due to the unique geologic histories of the different lake basins has influenced the structure and ecosystem functioning of microbial communities present in these environments.

By mid-February, the Antarctic winter was well on its way and it was time for our field season to end. Sarah and I flew back to Christchurch on a US Air Force C-17 and we were then lucky enough to spend a couple of week travelling around New Zealand before coming back to the U.S. As you might imagine, New Zealand is a very different environment from Antarctica and maybe even more stunningly beautiful. It was interesting adjusting back to a more normal society and being surprised at seeing normally mundane things that were not present in Antarctica, such as trees, dogs, children, and the night sky. Then, nearly immediately after arriving back in the U.S., the COVID crisis began and I was stuck in my apartment for a few months working on data analysis and writing.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”50371″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”50372″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Now that my 2^nd summer is here and our lab has re-opened, I spend most days doing lab processing and analysis of the soil samples we collected in Antarctica and from other projects. My lab work consists of various chemical analyses of soils as well as DNA-based analyses of soil microbial communities. These DNA analyses involve isolation of DNA from the samples and lots of PCR (check out my growing collection of PCR plates below!). The lab work isn’t particularly exciting, but at least it is going smoothly thus far. Anyways, this might be the longest post card in history, so I’m going to stop it here (I’m impressed if you actually read this far!). I hope everyone is doing well during these challenging times and I hope to see everyone soon.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”50373″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”50374″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”50375″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Ernie Osburn is an Interfaces of Global Change fellow working with Dr. Jeb Barrett in Virginia Tech’s Department of Biological Sciences. He is studying the impacts of Rhododendron removals on soil microbial communities and nitrogen cycling in Appalachian forests.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator style=”shadow”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Biodiversity Conservation Educational Outreach Ideas Science Communication

Science on Tap NRV moves online during the coronavirus pandemic

Post author By jcoker
Post date May 4, 2020

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]From VT News | May 1, 2020

As the novel coronavirus continues to proliferate across the world, we are all being asked to do our part in preventing the spread — whether that be wearing a mask in public, maintaining a 6-foot distance from others, or staying at home.

Many businesses have resorted to postponing or cancelling their regularly scheduled events. But one organization, called Science on Tap-New River Valley (NRV), refuses to let the current situation stop them from celebrating scientific thought in the Blacksburg community.

“Science on Tap NRV encourages fun and engaging science-related conversations, and right now our goal is to go full steam ahead as we’ve been doing, with local needs and interests serving a timely forefront,” said Cassandra Hockman, one of the organizers for Science on Tap and a Ph.D. student in rhetoric and writing in the Virginia Tech Department of English. “I think having and engaging in some form of community is really important right now.”

Science on Tap NRV is a monthly event that invites science-inspired speakers, performers, and educators from across the New River Valley to talk about scientific research in a relaxed setting. The goal is to create mutual support between the local and scientific communities through open conversation and a glass of beer.

Around this time of year, the gathering occurs at the lively Rising Silo Brewery, a semi-outdoor farm brewery. But as the events of the COVID-19 pandemic began to unfold, the organizers had to decide whether to cancel the event or push forward by virtual means. They chose the latter.

Hockman figured that now is a better time than any to hold a Science on Tap about viruses and viral transmission. In preparation for the event, Hockman collected questions about the coronavirus from the entire Science on Tap community. She then posed those questions to virus spread and airborne disease transmission experts Linsey Marr, the Charles P. Lunsford Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering, and Kaisen Lin, a newly minted Ph.D. and former graduate student in Marr’s lab.

“Our events are meant to provide a community space for welcoming, genuine curiosity, as well as encourage conversation between researchers and community members,” said Hockman. “I had seen some coverage about air transmission, but not much, and I also saw Linsey Marr entering these public conversations online. Since I had met with her and covered her work a few years ago, I knew her expertise and public contributions were highly relevant and timely.”

On March 23, Hockman hosted the first virtual Science on Tap via Zoom.

During the interview, Marr tackled questions related to virus survival in humid conditions, viral transmission in small and open spaces, and what it truly means when a virus is “airborne.” And although uncertainties still remain about the novel coronavirus, Marr was very grateful for the opportunity to help clear the air. “We just want to spread good science and help people understand what’s going on,” said Marr.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=e7_xxdtGdvw&feature=emb_logo”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Science on Tap NRV was the brainchild of Katie Burke, a digital features editor for the American Scientist. When she first moved to the Blacksburg area in 2015, Burke was on a mission to find local science communicators. Soon enough, she met Patricia Raun and Carrie Kroehler of the Virginia Tech Center for Communicating Science in the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment.

“I noted to Patty and Carrie that there was no science outreach event in Blacksburg at the time, and that events like that are where locals, STEM researchers, and science communicators often can meet and discuss ideas,” said Burke. “Patty and Carrie encouraged me to start one and gave me a lot of the advice, connections, and moral support I needed as impetus to make it happen.”

The first Science on Tap event launched in the spring of 2017 with great success — and an even greater turnout.

“We have had incredible attendance from the get-go, with our first event bringing in well over 100 people and filling up Rising Silo, which indicates to me that Blacksburg really needed an event like this,” said Burke.

Every night kicks off with a trivia game, a comedic routine, or a demonstration. Then, an invited guest scientist speaks about their research, which is followed by a Q&A session.

Over the course of its three years, Science on Tap has featured research about lighthearted topics, such as animal flatulence and scientific humor, as well as more pressing issues like water quality and climate change.

“We’ve had so much fun, and you know, while we were at it, we brainstormed some ways to save the world and make it a better place,” said Burke.

Along with donations from attendees, Science on Tap receives support from the Virginia Tech Center for Communicating Science and the Virginia Tech chapter of Sigma Xi, a nonprofit honor society for scientists and engineers. Both organizations are large proponents of science outreach, and they provide a generous amount of support by promoting events, bringing in speakers, and supplying volunteers.

“Our guest speakers are generally volunteers, and the show wouldn’t exist without researchers and artists willing to come in front of a bunch of people in a bar,” said Burke. “We are, by nature, a pretty low-budget operation, and much of what we do is volunteer-driven. That allows us to offer the event for free and open to everyone.”

For now, Science on Tap will continue to follow a virtual layout to not only ensure the safety of the public, but to keep that insatiable love of learning and science enthusiasm rolling until it can be safely moved back into locations in the community.

“Our next virtual events will incorporate more opportunities for personal interaction and audience participation,” said Raun, who both directs the Center for Communicating Science and serves as a professor of performance and voice in the Virginia Tech School of Performing Arts. “We’re looking forward to helping people connect during this time of social isolation.”

Science on Tap’s next virtual event will take place on May 7. For more details, visit the organization’s Facebook page.

If you have an idea for a Science on Tap event, or if you want to join the mailing list, contact scienceontapnrv@gmail.com.

Written by Kendall Daniels

CONTACT:
Kristin Rose
(540) 231-6614

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Biodiversity Conservation Ideas

Connect with the natural world by observing the birds outside your window

Post author By jcoker
Post date April 9, 2020

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]From VT News | April 8, 2020

As Virginians contribute to our national collective effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 through social distancing, a simple window or short walk offers an opportunity to connect to the rhythms of the natural world by observing common bird species.

“If you go outside in the morning right now, you can hear the ‘dawn chorus,’ the cacophony of bird calls as males are setting up their territories in spring,” said Robyn Puffenbarger, a Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardener passionate about birdwatching. “You can tell the change of seasons by their calls. I find that incredibly relaxing.”

Extension Master Gardeners are trained volunteer educators who work within their local communities to encourage and promote environmentally sound horticulture practices through sustainable landscape management education and training.

Puffenbarger began observing birds after a mysterious species visited her table on a picnic and she was curious as to what species it was. She recommends birding as an easy way to learn about nature and a great way to pass time while social distancing.

Dana Hawley, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences in the Virginia Tech College of Science agrees.

“You don’t have to leave the house to see birds, and you don’t even have to know what type of bird you’re looking at to enjoy watching a bird’s behavior as it interacts with its environment,” Hawley said. “And the benefits may go beyond simple enjoyment. Recent studies suggest that connecting with nature may directly improve our mental and physical health. Activities like birdwatching, which can be done from a window or porch, may be one of the easiest ways for us to lower our stress and anxiety levels in a time of national crisis.”

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How to start birding

For Virginians practicing social distancing, all you need to begin observing birds is a window.

“If you have trees outside and you look for birds in the morning, you will likely see bird activity pretty quickly,” said Hawley. “The next few weeks are a great time to spot birds moving in the trees because the leaves haven’t come back yet, so it’s a lot easier to see the treetops.”

While where you live will determine which birds you are most likely to see, there are a few common species all Virginians can begin looking for.

Hawley recommends looking for the following common birds:

Blue jay
Eastern bluebird
Carolina chickadee
Crow, two species are common! Listen to hear the difference between Fish and American
Tufted titmouse
Downy woodpecker
European starling
American goldfinch
House sparrow
House finch
Mourning dove
Rock pigeon
Northern mockingbird
Northern cardinal

“Right now, goldfinches are molting so their feathers can look fun and mottled, like they’ve had yellow paint splashed on them,” said Hawley. “You can also look for indigo buntings and migratory warblers, which can be a little harder to spot. Many warblers are just passing through at this time of year, so this is a great time to see them before they continue north to nest.”

If you’d like to attract some of these species to your backyard, a birdbath or bird feeder is a great way to bring in more birds. For a list of bird food appropriate for attracting different types of birds, click here. To lure in warblers like yellow-rumped warblers — affectionately called “butter butts” for the yellow on their backside — which normally hang out high in the trees, Hawley recommends putting out mealworms on a raised platform.

“It takes practice to be able to identify birds, so if you are just starting out don’t get discouraged. The more you practice, the better you get at spotting birds and identifying them,” said Hawley, who adds that you don’t need to know a bird’s species in order to enjoy watching it interact with its environment.

If you find that you enjoy observing birds, there are a number of free bird identification apps that you can download with a smartphone, as well as online courses like those offered by Cornell Bird Lab.

“Birdwatching is a great excuse to get outside, take a chance to breathe, and put things in perspective,” said Hawley. “Birds are a reminder that we are part of something bigger.”

“Birds are everywhere. Even in the most urban environments, birds are there,” said Puffenbarger. “There are no large mammals in Antarctica, but there are birds.”

In the future, as the need for social distancing wanes and communities begin the process of recovery, birding can also be a social hobby.

The Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardener program offers training on backyard ecology and gardening for wildlife — including birds — and the chance to connect with other local gardening enthusiasts. The Virginia Master Naturalist program also offers volunteer opportunities for those passionate about wildlife. Bird clubs and organized bird walks also connect beginning birders with experienced birders who can share tips and tricks for birding in your area.

Interested in learning more about gardening? Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners can help. Master Gardeners bring the resources of Virginia’s land-grant universities – Virginia Tech and Virginia State University – to the people of the commonwealth. Contact your local Master Gardeners through your Extension office or click here to learn more about gardening in Virginia and the Virginia Extension Master Gardener program.

-Written by Devon Johnson

CONTACT:

Zeke Barlow
540-231-5417

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Biodiversity Conservation Disease Faculty Spotlight Global Change Research

Pathogen levels in the environment drive disease outbreaks in bats

Post author By jcoker
Post date March 26, 2020

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]From VT News | March 16, 2020

Since 2005, millions of bats have perished from white-nose syndrome, a disease caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans. Although the disease has been found throughout much of the world, severe population declines have only occurred in North America — and now researchers at Virginia Tech know why.

In a new study led by Joseph Hoyt, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Science, researchers have found that the pathogen levels in the environment play a major role in whether bat populations are stable or experience severe declines from white-nose syndrome.

Hoyt and his international team of researchers published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on March 16.

“This study shows that more contaminated environments, or potential ‘hot spots,’ are going to result in higher disease impacts. By understanding the relationship between how much pathogen is present in the environment and the size of an outbreak, we can know exactly how much environmental sanitization is needed to reduce the epidemic potential,” said Hoyt.

When infectious diseases first arise, it is crucial to understand how the disease is being transmitted. With a pathogen like Pseudogymnoascus destructans, which can exist outside of the host, researchers looked to the environmental pathogen reservoir — or the habitat in which a pathogen persists or grows in the absence of hosts.

Pseudogymnoascus destructans is a cold-loving fungus, which resides on the walls of caves, mines, and other subterranean environments. Every year, as the cold and debilitating winter draws near, bats hibernate in these infected sites until they can return to the landscape in spring. And it is during this time that bats contract white-nose syndrome.

As Hoyt and his team journeyed out to find the historical origin of this disease, they were the first to find that the pathogen has already been present in Asia for thousands of years. In an even more astounding discovery, they found that European and Asian bat populations face little to no impacts from white-nose syndrome compared to bats in North America.

A cluster of greater horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) roosting in a cave at the end of winter in Jilin province, China. They are tightly packed, and one bat is flying away from the cluster and towards the camera. — A cluster of greater horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) roosting in a cave at the end of winter in Jilin province, China. Photograph courtesy of Joseph R Hoyt.

This unprecedented study revealed that the environmental pathogen reservoir in European and Asian sites decayed over the summer months, which left a smaller amount of pathogen in the environment for bats to come into contact with the following winter. In contrast, there was no decay of the pathogen in sites over the summer in North America, which resulted in widespread infection and mortality.

“The fact is that bats are experiencing much less severe infections at the beginning of the hibernation season across Europe and Asia. As a result, they are still getting infected but the process of infection is delayed relative to North American bats. So, they are experiencing far lower transmission from the environment than bats experience here in North America,” said Kate Langwig, the second author of this paper and an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Science and an affiliated faculty member of the Global Change Center, housed under the Fralin Life Sciences Institute. “The differences in the environmental reservoir are really important for driving the dynamics of the disease across space.”

With lower transmission of the pathogen and some time on their side, bats will be able to emerge from their infected roosts in just enough time to escape certain death.

“Because the pathogen decays in the environment over summer in Europe and Asia, most bats don’t become infected until mid- to late- winter, which is too late for the infections to manifest into mortality. If you have delayed transmission, then bats are able to emerge in the spring and clear infection before it can ever result in death,” said Hoyt.

This is one of the first papers to link the extent of the environmental reservoir to the size of an outbreak, the number of individuals that become infected, the severity of those infections, and population impacts.

Hoyt hopes that this paper will highlight the importance of environmental pathogen reservoirs in driving infectious disease outbreaks.

“The environmental pathogen reservoir has the potential to be really important. The idea that as you get a more contaminated environment, that scales with the degree of population impacts, is something that hasn’t really been demonstrated before,” said Hoyt.

Hoyt and his team are now trying to use findings from Eurasian bat populations to help North American bats. More specifically, they are trying to reduce the amount of pathogen in the environment in North America over summer when bats are absent from these sites.

“We are trying to replicate the pathogen decay that is happening in Europe and Asia, and delay transmission. If we can push bats to not get infected until later in the winter, then they might be able to survive until spring,” said Hoyt.

This project received a majority of funding from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Additional funding was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Program for Introducing Talents to Universities, Jilin Provincial Natural Science Foundation, Mongolian State University of Education, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI.

– Written by Kendall Daniels

CONTACT:
Kristin Rose
(540) 231-6614

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Biodiversity Blog Faculty Spotlight Geology Global Change Research

Virginia Tech paleontologists identify 1 billion-year-old green seaweed fossils, ancestors to modern land plants

Post author By jcoker
Post date February 25, 2020

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]From VT News | February 24, 2020

Virginia Tech paleontologists have made a remarkable discovery in China: 1 billion-year-old micro-fossils of green seaweeds that could be related to the ancestor of the earliest land plants and trees that first developed 450 million years ago.

The micro-fossil seaweeds — a form of algae known as Proterocladus antiquus — are barely visible to the naked eyed at 2 millimeters in length, or roughly the size of a typical flea. Professor Shuhai Xiao said the fossils are the oldest green seaweeds ever found. They were imprinted in rock taken from an area of dry land — formerly ocean — near the city of Dalian in the Liaoning Province of northern China. Previously, the earliest convincing fossil record of green seaweeds were found in rock dated at roughly 800 million years old.

The findings — led by Xiao and Qing Tang, a post-doctoral researcher, both in the Department of Geosciences, part of the Virginia Tech College of Science — are featured in the latest issue of Nature Ecology & Evolution. “These new fossils suggest that green seaweeds were important players in the ocean long before their land-plant descendants moved and took control of dry land,” Xiao said.

A computerized depiction of ancient green seaweed in the ocean, with the fossilized plants in the foreground. — In the background of this digital recreation, ancient microscopic green seaweed is seen living in the ocean 1 billion years ago. In the foreground is the same seaweed in the process of being fossilized far later. Image by Dinghua Yang.

“The entire biosphere is largely dependent on plants and algae for food and oxygen, yet land plants did not evolve until about 450 million years ago,” Xiao said. “Our study shows that green seaweeds evolved no later than 1 billion years ago, pushing back the record of green seaweeds by about 200 million years. What kind of seaweeds supplied food to the marine ecosystem?”

Shuhai said the current hypothesis is that land plants — the trees, grasses, food crops, bushes, even kudzu — evolved from green seaweeds, which were aquatic plants. Through geological time — millions upon millions of years — they moved out of the water and became adapted to and prospered on dry land, their new natural environment. “These fossils are related to the ancestors of all the modern land plants we see today.”

However, Xiao added the caveat that not all geobiologists are on the same page – that debate on the origins of green plants remains debated. “Not everyone agrees with us; some scientists think that green plants started in rivers and lakes, and then conquered the ocean and land later,” added Xiao, a member of the Virginia Tech Global Change Center.

There are three main types of seaweed: brown (Phaeophyceae), green (Chlorophyta), and red (Rhodophyta), and thousands of species of each kind. Fossils of red seaweed, which are now common on ocean floors, have been dated as far back as 1.047 billion years old.

“There are some modern green seaweeds that look very similar to the fossils that we found,” Xiao said. “A group of modern green seaweeds, known as siphonocladaleans, are particularly similar in shape and size to the fossils we found.”

Photosynthetic plants are, of course, vital to the ecological balance of the planet because they produce organic carbon and oxygen through photosynthesis, and they provide food and the basis of shelter for untold numbers of mammals, fish, and more. Yet, going back 2 billion years, Earth had no green plants at all in oceans, Xiao said.

Geobiology professor Shuhai Xiao, right, poses for a portrait with his postdoctorate Qing Tang in Derring Hall. — Geobiology professor Shuhai Xiao (right) and postdoctorate researcher Qing Tang in their Derring Hall lab.

It was Tang who discovered the micro-fossils of the seaweeds using an electronic microscope at Virginia Tech’s campus and brought it to Xiao’s attention. To more easily see the fossils, mineral oil was dripped onto the fossil to create a strong contrast.

“These seaweeds display multiple branches, upright growths, and specialized cells known as akinetes that are very common in this type of fossil,” he said. “Taken together, these features strongly suggest that the fossil is a green seaweed with complex multicellularity that is circa 1 billion years old. These likely represent the earliest fossil of green seaweeds. In short, our study tells us that the ubiquitous green plants we see today can be traced back to at least 1 billion years.”

According to Xiao and Tang, the tiny seaweeds once lived in a shallow ocean, died, and then became “cooked” beneath a thick pile of sediment, preserving the organic shapes of the seaweeds as fossils. Many millions of years later, the sediment was then lifted up out of the ocean and became the dry land where the fossils were retrieved by Xiao and his team, which included scientists from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology in China.

Virginia Tech-led study finds oldest footprints of bug dating back 540-plus million years

CONTACT:
Steven Mackay
540-231-5035

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