New Roots for Restoration: Building a foundation for interdisciplinary work in plant organismal biology and ecology to advance restoration in natural and agricultural ecosystems

Societal Impact Statement: Soils are globally degraded due in part to conventional agriculture and wildland conversion. To address the global challenge of soil degradation, we formed an interdisciplinary, cross-institutional collaborative research team, New Roots for Restoration, to understand how perennial plant root and shoot traits relate to one another, and how they influence and are influenced by plant communities and the soil. We highlight how coordinated research projects, expertise cores, and cross-institution training activities simultaneously advance scientific understanding and workforce development. We share approaches and tools, as well as challenges and lessons learned. This institute highlights how multi-institution teams integrating diverse biological subdisciplines can advance major scientific and training goals. Summary: The challenge of restoring degraded soils must be met with integrated knowledge and practice of distinct biological subdisciplines. Here we share a model of scientific collaboration, an interdisciplinary cross-institution team: New Roots for Restoration Biology Integration Institute (NRR). NRR focuses on how plant organismal systems (roots and shoots) relate to one another, and how those relationships influence and are influenced by plant communities and the soil ecosphere. Our aim is to enhance the ability to predict belowground functional traits from aboveground phenotypes to identify ecologically and functionally appropriate materials to restore natural ecosystems and to develop sustainable agricultural systems of the future. Plants provide the ecological and structural foundation of terrestrial landscapes, building soils and supporting productivity in natural and agricultural ecosystems. Plants connect aboveground components through their root systems in terrestrial ecosystems to the soil ecosphere. However, the field lacks a basic understanding of how plant traits, from roots to shoots, govern these connections. This is especially true for perennial plants, which are inherently difficult to study. NRR seeks to elucidate how attributes of the plant organismal system (plant traits, genetics, genetics × environment interactions), community ecology, and the soil ecosphere contribute to variation in aboveground and belowground plant structures through 10 integrated projects supported by expertise cores. Our efforts demonstrate how the integration of biological subdisciplines can advance understanding of the impacts of deep-rooted plant systems in both restored grasslands and perennial agroecosystems.