Your path towards ecological understanding

The influence of human deposited nitrogen on plants and their fungal mutualist

February 21, 2018 Philip Pinzone

Beneath the forest floor, N deposition is changing plant-fungal nutrient dynamics.

Activities like crop fertilization, and the combustion of fossil fuels is allowing massive amounts of nitrogen to be deposited to ecosystems around the world. A main response is the seemingly simple shift towards less functioning mycorrhizae. This actually has a pronounced impact on the entire ecosystem.

Fungi Friday; Termitomyces titanicus

February 16, 2018 Philip Pinzone

Termitomyces titanicus. A rather fitting name for such a huge species. By Danny Newman. — *Termitomyces titanicus*. A rather fitting name for such a huge species. By Danny Newman.

Make way for the biggest mushroom on the planet! Find out what drove its large size in this weeks edition of Fungi Friday.

Island biogeography; speciation in an endangered Japanese Pine and a newly discovered mycorrhizal fungus

January 11, 2018 Philip Pinzone

Island distribution of Pinus amamiana. These endangered pines grow on Southern islands of the

 
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… — Island distribution of *Pinus amamiana*. These endangered pines grow on Southern islands of the Kagoshima Prefecture.

A newly described species of mycorrhizal fungi isolated from soils inhabited by endangered pines native to the islands of Southern Japan show the importance of taking a mycological approach in the field of conservation biology.

Willow interactions explain plant distributions in Alpine ecosystems.

November 28, 2017 Philip Pinzone

One of the main alpine willow species found in CO, Salix glauca. — One of the main alpine willow species found in CO, *Salix glauca*.

These series of experiment that took two years to carry out paint a more descriptive picture of what we see in alpine ecosystems. Compared to aboveground interactions, underground interactions have a stronger influence on species distributions in alpine habitats. Once again, we see how strong a force competition is.

#FungiFriday The fungus vital to cranberry growth-Rhizoscyphus ericae

November 24, 2017 Philip Pinzone

I did not know cranberry plants form mycorrhizae, did you?