In addition to the studies on successional change of the plant communities on the Lyman glacier forefront, together with a merry bunch of friends and colleaques, I have been fortunate to follow the successional dynamics of fungi in this alpine environment.

We first compared the ectomycorrhizal fungal communities that were present in the glacier forefront and the surrounding areas (see abstract here). Not too surprisingly, there were fairly large differences among the three sites that we compared. We then proceeded to survey the Lyman glacier forefront more closely (see abstract here). To our surprise, the first fungi fruited even prior to well established vegetation.

While we were collecting the observational data for the research described above, we also conducted some experimental studies. We focused on a fairly poorly studied group of organisms; dark septate endophytes. They seemed to be very frequent on this environment and we asked questions about their potential ecological significance. Based on greenhouse studies they seemed to be beneficial rather than detrimental to their host plant (see abstract here; copy the Mycorrhiza paper here). In their natural environment, they seemed to be able to colonize a variety of host plants. Single fungal individual seemed to be able to colonize simultaneously a range of different host species (see abstract here).

I am planning to continue the research effort in this area in the future. My lab has started on a project to explore the niche separation among the ectomycorrhizal fungi in the Lyman Glacier Area.