Postdoctoral Fellowship: PRFB: Grounded in Volatility: Using Volatile Organic Compounds to Illuminate Plant-Influenced Microbial Phenotypes in Desert Soils

About This Grant

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2025. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to biology in innovative ways. Plants shape the lives of soil microbes in many ways, not only by providing nutrients and water, but also by releasing airborne chemicals called volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These VOCs can serve as food for microbes, but they also act as clues about microbial activity – when microbes consume and emit VOCs, they leave behind chemical fingerprints that reveal their presence and function. Unlike traditional microbiology methods that require digging up soil, VOCs can now be measured continuously underground, allowing real-time observations of microbial processes. The fellow will use VOCs to study how plants influence microorganisms in desert soils, to understand how microbial consumption affects VOC movement, and how much this expands the influence of the plant beyond its roots. This project will advance methods for measuring microbes in soil and reveal new ways that plant roots shape soil ecosystems. It will also support STEM education by training high school and undergraduate students in environmental microbiology and data science, preparing them for careers in ecological research. This research will integrate real-time VOC measurements with multi-omic approaches to characterize soil microbial phenotypes in response to plant root influences in desert soils. Aim 1 will investigate how spatial and temporal nutrient and moisture gradients in the plant root system influence microbial metabolisms, defining VOC flux profiles as indicators of microbial functions. Aim 2 will assess how VOC diffusion, microbial consumption (gene expression and metabolite profiles), and soil moisture extend rhizosphere boundaries, challenging the known scope of plant-microbe interactions. By establishing VOCs as real-time indicators of microbial activity and redefining rhizosphere boundaries, this work will expand techniques for measuring ecosystem function and improve dryland ecosystem models. The project will provide the fellow with advanced field, lab and computational training in volatilomics, multi-omic integration, and atmospheric data science. Broader impacts include mentoring high school and undergraduate students in microbial ecology and data science and developing a computational training module that integrates fieldwork and data analysis to support early-career scientists. Through these activities, the project will advance soil microbial ecology while promoting STEM education and training. 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.