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I'm an evolutionary ecologist broadly interested in the evolution
of plant-fungal symbioses. I use classic microbiological methods,
ecological sampling techniques, molecular tools, and the robust framework
of phylogenetic biology to understand fungal biodiversity, the ecological
roles and evolutionary importance of cryptic microfungi, and the evolution
of symbiotic lifestyles across the fungal tree of life. I am especially
interested in tropical mycology, with a focus on fungal endophytes
of tropical trees.
Fungal
endophytes - fungi that inhabit plant tissues without causing disease
- are ubiquitous in leaves of plants, but their ecological roles
are largely unexplored. In the context of an interdisciplinary research
program focusing on diverse elements of endophyte ecology, evolution,
and systematics, my current projects include (1) assessing the roles
of endophytes in influencing the chemistry, nutritive value, and
development of leaves, thereby shaping patterns of herbivory by
folivorous insects; (2) determining the degree to which tropical
plants host entomopathogenic fungi as endophytes, and examining
such associations in the context of cryptic plant defenses; (3)
large scale assessments of microfungal biodiversity in altered landscapes,
and the fungal communities of introduced (both desirable and invasive)
plants; (4) examination of broad-scale coevolution between microfungi
and photosynthetic organisms; and (5) collaborative projects assessing
the ecological roles of endophytic fungi in lichens (endolichenic
fungi). Work in my lab also centers on a variety of systematics-oriented
projects that lend themselves well to the study of insect, plant,
and fungal interactions.
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