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Headwater streams in Alaska are rich in biodiversity, including juvenile salmon that eventually return to the ocean.
This project explores how fungi contribute to speciation and diversification in the orchid genus Platanthera and investigates how preferences for fungal use are inherited by studying parent species and their hybrid offspring.
The project goal is to assess the degree to which leaf endophytes (fungi and bacteria that live in leaf tissues) mediate the effects of tree diversity on leaf chemistry (metabolome), herbivore communities, and tree productivity.
We are following the genetic trail left by invading Phragmites australis to understand what factors have promoted invasion by this non-native wetland plant.
Non-native Phragmites australis is now a dominant species in much of the Chesapeake Bay. We are determining how land use has affected its spread.
Non-native earthworms dominate the soil of many mid-Atlantic forests. We are investigating how they affect they mycorrhizal associations that plants depend on.
We are investigating how the identity of the mycorrhizal fungi associated with the orchid Corallorhiza odontorhiza affect its ability to tolerate climate variation.
In North America, more than 60% of the over 230 known species are threatened or endangered in some part of their range of distribution and a number of species have been extirpated in some states.
Knowledge of orchid pollinator relationships is incomplete, with no documented pollinators for almost 50% of orchids,
The goal of the Palau Orchid Conservation Initiative is to determine how ecological and environmental variables influence orchid diversity and distributions so that effective conservation strategies can be developed.
We are working to determine the effect of prescribed burns on Helonias bullata (swamp pink).
Protecting orchids means also protecting the mycorrhizal fungi they need to grow. We are working to understand the role mycorrhizal fungi play in orchid conservation.
