Speaker: Dr. Stephanie Kivlin
Plant-mycorrhizal fungal interactions are the most ubiquitous symbiosis on the planet, responsible for the majority of plant nutrient uptake. Yet, we know little about how these interactions may decouple with global change.
This talk will examine (1) the global drivers of arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal fungal distributions and their current and future ranges, (2) impacts of changing winter conditions on plant-mycorrhizal fungi in the Colorado Rockies, and (3) current work on predictive models of plant-mycorrhizal fungal associations in forests of the Eastern US.
Through these different lens across space and time, the research presented here will highlight the perils of global change on the stability of plant-mycorrhizal interactions, with large shifts in mycorrhizal fungal composition, abundance, and function with predicted warming, early snowmelt, and shifting plant ranges.