Harvard Forest On-Going Research Projects

Harvard Forest Research

Fungal Life History Strategies and Evolution: Insights from Isotopic Measurements and Phylogenetic Analysis

Principal Investigator: Erik Hobbie
University of New Hampshire: Apr 01 2009 - Mar 31 2011:

Abstract:

Fungi play important ecological roles and affect society through their activities as decayers, mutualists, and pathogens (of plants and animals). Their enzymes are critical to biofuel production. Despite their importance, we know little about how many fungi obtain food. The two dominant types, mycorrhizal fungi and saprotrophic fungi, obtain their nutrition differently, with mycorrhizal fungi obtaining simple sugars from plants in exchange for helping their host plants, and saprotrophic fungi obtaining their energy and nutrients from decomposition of dead organic matter. Whether fungi switch between nutritional strategies is a key question in the evolutionary ecology of fungi.
Recently, measuring forms of elements differing in the number of neutrons (termed isotopes) such as carbon-12, carbon-13, and carbon-14 isotopes has been shown to reliably assess nutritional strategy, and therefore provides new opportunities to examine the evolution of nutritional strategies in fungi. To examine this, we will use archived fungi from Australia, Asia, and the US. A site-specific study at the Harvard Forest research site in Massachusetts will also be used to examine whether fungal nutritional strategies should be viewed along a continuum. These methods will efficiently expand our ability to investigate the links among fungal functioning, phylogenetics, and ecology and will therefore strengthen cross-disciplinary research.
The broader scientific impacts of the proposed research will result from integrating functional (isotopic) methods and genetic methods in a novel collaboration that should stimulate interest within the larger community of evolutionary biologists, ecologists, and mycologists. These methods could be readily expanded to Europe and Africa to include the global distribution of mushroom-producing fungi. This project will also incorporate current scientific research into specific educational activities designed to inspire future scientists including high school (fungal forays), college (Clark University’s ACE Summer Institute, Research Experience for Undergraduates at Harvard Forest, the UNH Undergraduate Research Conference), and graduate students.
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	Harvard Forest Research Fungal Life History Strategies and Evolution: Insights from Isotopic Measurements and Phylogenetic Analysis Principal Investigator: Erik Hobbie University of New Hampshire: Apr 01 2009 - Mar 31 2011: Abstract: Fungi play important ecological roles and affect society through their activities as decayers, mutualists, and pathogens (of plants and animals). Their enzymes are critical to biofuel production. Despite their importance, we know little about how many fungi obtain food. The two dominant types, mycorrhizal fungi and saprotrophic fungi, obtain their nutrition differently, with mycorrhizal fungi obtaining simple sugars from plants in exchange for helping their host plants, and saprotrophic fungi obtaining their energy and nutrients from decomposition of dead organic matter. Whether fungi switch between nutritional strategies is a key question in the evolutionary ecology of fungi. Recently, measuring forms of elements differing in the number of neutrons (termed isotopes) such as carbon-12, carbon-13, and carbon-14 isotopes has been shown to reliably assess nutritional strategy, and therefore provides new opportunities to examine the evolution of nutritional strategies in fungi. To examine this, we will use archived fungi from Australia, Asia, and the US. A site-specific study at the Harvard Forest research site in Massachusetts will also be used to examine whether fungal nutritional strategies should be viewed along a continuum. These methods will efficiently expand our ability to investigate the links among fungal functioning, phylogenetics, and ecology and will therefore strengthen cross-disciplinary research. The broader scientific impacts of the proposed research will result from integrating functional (isotopic) methods and genetic methods in a novel collaboration that should stimulate interest within the larger community of evolutionary biologists, ecologists, and mycologists. These methods could be readily expanded to Europe and Africa to include the global distribution of mushroom-producing fungi. This project will also incorporate current scientific research into specific educational activities designed to inspire future scientists including high school (fungal forays), college (Clark University’s ACE Summer Institute, Research Experience for Undergraduates at Harvard Forest, the UNH Undergraduate Research Conference), and graduate students. :
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