Lecture 13: Spatial Variation in Vegetation Patterns

April 2, 2020 Philip Pinzone

In today's lecture, we are going to at how topography, (elevation, slope aspect, latitude, rain-shadows, microtopography) soil properties, and disturbance helps describe the spatial patterns we see in vegetation. We will better understand the emergent landscape and how natural selection selects for plant communities that compete the least with each other. These spatial and temporal interactions are quite complex and are applied differently in every ecosystem on this planet, but hopefully, by the end of the lecture, we will be able to better understand forest ecology from the perspective of the forest floor.

Ancient preserved fungi help us paint a vivid ecological past

November 8, 2019 Philip Pinzone

Palaeoagaracites antiquus from 99 million year old amber. — *Palaeoagaracites antiquus* from 99 million year old amber.

These discoveries lead us to the notion that not only was fungal diversity high millions of years ago, but extremely complex fungal interactions where present. These interactions help shaped these ancient ecosystems from the bottom up. From decomposition rates, to mycoparasites to insect parasites, ancient fungi played integral roles and have clearly had their hand in shaping evolutionary trends.

Bondarzewia berkeleyi

June 14, 2019 Philip Pinzone

A truly massive polypore. Found by Crystal on mushroom observer.

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Large trees are more important than we thought

June 6, 2018 Philip Pinzone

Earth's most massive tree, a giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) named General Sherman. — Earth's most massive tree, a giant sequoia (*Sequoiadendron giganteum*) named General Sherman.

New research suggests that by removing the largest 1% of trees, we remove 50% of the aboveground biomass! This new collaborative science also shows interesting latitudinal trends.

Imperfect fungi, noble rots

April 18, 2018 Philip Pinzone

Botrytis cinerea on Riesling grapes. — *Botrytis cinerea* on Riesling grapes.

Moldy grapes are not frowned upon by wine makers. These fungi induce changes within the grape that provide noble rot wines with complex nuances that would otherwise be silenced.

Your path towards ecological understanding