Comparative analyses of microbial populations and functions in the phyllospheres of desert plants and plants from the Atlantic forest

• Grant number: 15/21885-6
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• Start date: March 25, 2016
• End date: May 08, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Soil Science
• Principal Investigator: Marcio Rodrigues Lambais
• Grantee: Marcio Rodrigues Lambais
• Visiting researcher: Shimshon Belkin
• Visiting researcher institution: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The purpose of the present application is to support the visit of Prof. Shimshon Belkin, a renowned microbial ecologist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, to the Prof. Marcio Lambais' lab at the Department of Soil Science, ESALQ, University of São Paulo. Over the last decade the two groups have shared a common scientific interest in studying the microbial populations inhabiting the leaf surfaces of trees (the phyllosphere), and have published extensively in this field. On the one hand, the fields of interest and the research methods of the two groups are very similar, as well as the types of data they have been collecting; on the other hand, the large geographical distances between the studied habitats (the Middle East and Brazil) and between the taxa of plants studied (desert trees in Israel and tropical forests in Brazil) dictate dramatically different environments. Nevertheless, striking similarities between the microbial populations in the phyllospheres of both groups of plants are observed. The proposed visit of Prof. Belkin to the University of São Paulo, planned to take place in April-May 2016, will be dedicated to unravelling the similarities and differences between these microbial populations and their functions, based on data previously collected by the two groups using plant from the desert in Israel and from the Atlantic Forest in Brazil.This visit is important to strengthen the collaboration between the two groups, significantly contributing to the development of ongoing research projects, and to consolidate a bilateral collaboration program for the exchange of students and researchers. (AU)