Functional roles of Cercozoa in the rhizosphere and phyllosphere of plants (CERCOPLANT)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Michael Bonkowski
• Subject Area: Microbial Ecology and Applied Microbiology
• Term: from 2011 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 209156033

Protozoa are the dominant bacterial grazers in terrestrial systems and often exert significant positive effects on plant growth, due to (1) the release of growth-limiting nutrients from consumed bacterial biomass and (2) changes in bacterial community composition and function. However, information on the species identity, the diversity and on differences in the functional roles of specific soil protozoan taxa is largely lacking. Among soil protozoa, the Cercozoa (Cercomonadida) are a highly diverse, and probably the most productive group of terrestrial flagellates. The project aims to determine the species identity and to quantify the diversity of Cercozoa in the rhizosphere and phyllosphere of plants and to link specific phylogenetic and phenotypic traits of the cercomonads to grazing-induced changes in bacterial community composition and function in space and time. The project will further investigate the degree of functional redundancy and complementarity of cercozoan taxa in the plant rhizosphere, and their in situ effects on the diversity of bacteria and on plant performance. In the phyllosphere, the project will investigate the spatial metapopulation dynamics of Cercozoa and different phyllosphere bacterial taxa and model the spatial and temporal dynamics of these predator-prey dynamics in order to characterize the underlying mechanisms and identify the functional traits of Cercozoa and bacteria that define their central role in phyllosphere community dynamics.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants