Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/V01501X/1
NSFGEO-NERC: Fungi in a Warmer World
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Dr M Pound, Northumbria University, Fac of Engineering and Environment
- Grant held at:
- Northumbria University, Fac of Engineering and Environment
- Science Area:
- Earth
- Freshwater
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Panel A
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Global Change
- Science Topics:
- Cenozoic climate change
- Fossil record
- Palaeoclimatology
- Palaeoecology
- Palaeoenvironments
- Fungi
- Microorganisms
- Abstract:
- Overview Understanding how ecosystems will adapt due to climate change involves modelling future scenarios and making inferences from long-term datasets. Paleoclimate research, specifically from the Cenozoic provides an invaluable source of long-term data that can be used to understand future climate change. A knowledge gap exists in that no long-term and large-scale information on how fungi have responded to past climate change prevents understanding how fungal ecosystems in different regions will change in the future. The MMCO was the warmest interval of the Neogene and is potentially an analogue for future warming. A base-line knowledge of global vegetation exists for this interval, but the lack of fossil fungal data inhibits a full understanding of biodiversity and terrestrial carbon cycle dynamics during this potential analogue. Modern ecological data suggests fungal diversity should decrease with increasing temperatures, but fungal biodiversity is highest in warm biomes. This conflicting information could be due to unforeseen long-term changes that are impossible to investigate on human timescales. The presence of fossil fungi in sedimentary sequences provides a reliable proxy for investigating how fungi respond to warmer global temperatures. No existing works examine fungal ecosystem services or biodiversity in the Neogene. Without an in-depth understanding of past fungal community structure, function, and interactions in warmer-thanpresent conditions, it is impossible to predict future changes. To fill the knowledge gap, we propose providing the first global view of fungal biodiversity and ecosystem services during an interval of geologic time that is in line with future warming scenarios. Specifically, we will generate and analyze a global-scale data set of fungal biodiversity from MMCO sediments using fungal palynology. Existing palynological slides and residues will be re-examined for fungal content (East Asia [China], Southeast Asia [Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand], South Asia [Indus Fan], Europe, SE North America). Field work will involve detailed sampling of exceptionally preserved leaf-, wood- or coal-bearing terrestrial sites in Australia (year 1), South America (year 1), Africa (year 2), and North America (year 2). Intellectual Merit We will generate six gold open access presentation detailing 1) fungal occurrences and ecological tolerances for each of the four study sites; 2) biogeography of fungal ecology during the MMCO; and 3) new climate reconstructions for the MMCO taking fungi into account. We will also generate a large database, entitled FUNgal Cenozoic Koppen Information (FUNCKI), that will permit others to use fungal ecological tolerances in relation to Koppen bioclimate zones to reconstruct past ecosystems using fungal palynomorphs. Additionally, we anticipate presentations at multiple conferences a year over the three-year project. Broader Impacts We will strive to increase equable access to science through gold open access publication. We will utilize gender neutral recruitment strategies and strive to recruit minorities for Postdoctoral, doctoral, and undergraduate positions on the project where possible. We will build a ludic pedagogical outreach and elementary-level STEM engagement package that will be disseminated to teachers and primary students in the US, UK, South Africa, Argentina, and Peru. We will host a special session on fungal palynology at the 2022 European Palaeobotany and Palynology Conference in Stockholm, Sweden. We will provide a fungal palynology workshop with free-toparticipants materials at the 2023 annual meeting of AASP-The Palynological Society in Lexington, KY.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/V01501X/1
- Grant Stage:
- Awaiting Event/Action
- Scheme:
- Standard Grant FEC
- Grant Status:
- Active
- Programme:
- Lead Agency Grant
This grant award has a total value of £243,537
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DA - Estate Costs | DI - Staff | DI - T&S | DA - Other Directly Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £906 | £96,056 | £20,100 | £6,237 | £81,135 | £29,978 | £9,125 |
If you need further help, please read the user guide.