By JORDAN STRICKLER

Kentucky Correspondent

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee State University researcher has received almost $1 million to study how crops adapt to climate change – Jianwei Li, an assistant professor at the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, will be using funds from a National Science Foundation grant to study the effects of high temperatures on cropland soils in Middle Tennessee.

The study will help scientists better determine how much carbon dioxide is being emitted. Additionally, the grant will be used to help training for minority students in global environmental change issues. An undergraduate student will be chosen each year to receive formal training for two months at the University of California-Irvine.

“The study will have intensive sampling of the soil, plants, and microbes,” said Li. “It will be integrating soil science, plant science, and climate change. Plus, the students will be having an opportunity to develop their interests and work.”

Thus far, there has not been much research of the environmental impact on microbes. Li’s project will be the most comprehensive ever taken in the area.

“We will be doing a very intensive bi-weekly collection of the whole ecosystem. No one has done this before. We have 50 weeks a year for this study, so this will be over 100 samples every year, for the three years of the study.

“Hopefully with that intensive collection of the entire ecosystem, we can potentially contribute to make a better long-term model. Right now there isn’t much data, so this will be the largest amount of data so far.

“Microbes are critical for crop growth,” he explained. “The temperature will affect the crop directly, but people don’t think too much about what the heat affects underground and how that affects the microbes in the soil. Crops cannot grow without these microbes.”

Li sees the grant as seed money to help build a permanent experimental infrastructure and develop an interpretive display on climate change to educate farmers and schoolchildren throughout the state.

Microbes have already been found to be a good substitute for chemical fertilizers. A 2016 study published by the U.S. National Library of Medicine – National Institutes of Health found that microbes increase germination rates and promote root growth, yield, leaf area, chlorophyll content, nitrogen content, protein content, tolerance to drought, shoot and root weight, and delayed leaf senescence in wheat.

“This study will go very in-depth into the microbes under the ground and the plants around the roots,” Li said.

He also hopes this study will be a springboard for action in the future. As climate change continues to increase, he said his work could help bring light to what it could mean for crop health.

“Climate change has proven to be real, and our planet will be getting warmer and warmer,” he explained. “We’ve never seen so much evidence in different continents. Even by cutting emissions right now, it will go up and this will create a problem for cropland.

“Some crops are really sensitive to drought. My project isn’t just for the crop, but something for the microbes in the soil, which is a significant component and a major player to provide nutrients.”