Summer 2013 Research

Dr. Laura Aldrich-Wolfe

Winnie Shivega

“Diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in response to changes in land use in grasslands of Minnesota”

 

Students will work on a project begun two years ago to examine the effects of land use in Minnesota on species diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and the extent to which AM fungi can be used to maintain diversity of native plant species in prairie in the face of invasion by exotic weeds.  As mutualists of most plant species, AM fungi play important roles in determining establishment of individual plant species and in dynamics of the plant community as a whole.  The project includes a field component, as well as extensive microscopy and some amplification of AM fungi using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

On both public and private lands around Moorhead, Minnesota, efforts have been undertaken to restore former prairie sites following agricultural activities or grazing.  The degree to which these projects are successful in restoring prairie biodiversity may depend, at least partially, on the recovery of particular biota belowground.  This project uses a comparative approach to determine the degree to which one component of belowground diversity, the AM fungi, has been altered by human land use.  Students will extract spores from soil cores and amplify AM fungal DNA from root samples to estimate the diversity of AM fungi in native prairie, restored prairie, and other grassland sites at Concordia’s Long Lake Field Station and nearby areas.  As well as characterizing the AM fungal community, they will also estimate plant diversity using small plots at the same sites where soil cores are taken and subsequently examine the relationship between AM fungal and plant diversity.

Students will also use an experimental design established three years ago by colleagues at the University of Minnesota at Rosemount, Minnesota to explore the changes in AM fungal diversity that result from establishment of different crop, exotic weed, and native prairie plant species in monocultures on a former agricultural site.  Students will extract spores from soil cores taken at these sites to determine how the AM fungal community responds over time to changes in host species identity.  Of particular interest are AM fungal species that respond positively in terms of abundance to native plant species and may be effective in slowing or minimizing the invasion of restored areas by exotic weeds.

 

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