My main research area is the above- and belowground interactions between fungi, plants and animals on which I have published 95 papers, numerous chapters and reports. A long-standing research interest are species level interactions and functionality among ectomycorrhizal symbiotic fungi colonising the roots of trees. Current research focusses on using wholistic approaches to investigate drivers of change in ecosystem services in (semi-) natural and anthropogenically influenced ecosystems. Studies include impacts of land-use change (reforestation) on belowground biodiversity and changing C dynamics, and large-scale studies of how links between aboveground plant heterogeneity and belowground taxonomic and functional biodiversity influence carbon and nutrient pools in alpine systems. High-throughput next generation sequencing is used for characterising cryptic soil taxonomic and functional biodiversity. Molecular tools are also used to examine environmental influences on spatial structuring of populations and communities at both local and continental scales. Population and species level functional studies of ectomycorrhizal fungi involved in nutrient and carbon cycling in soils are also currently under investigation.
Birch seedlings colonised by the ectomycorrhizal fungus, Paxillus involutus
Competitive interactions between two ectomycorrhizal fungi on tree rot tip
Fruiting structures of an ectomycorrhizal fungus
Piloderma mycelium
Links:
[1] https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0727-8171
[2] https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=wPyTnLsAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate
[3] https://www.hutton.ac.uk/sites/default/files/images/Birch seedlings colonised by the ectomycorrhizal fungus, Paxillus involutus.jpg
[4] https://www.hutton.ac.uk/sites/default/files/images/Competitive intercations between two ectomycorrhizal fungi on tree root tip.jpg
[5] https://www.hutton.ac.uk/sites/default/files/images/Fruiting structures of an ectomycorrhizal fungus.jpg
[6] https://www.hutton.ac.uk/sites/default/files/images/Piloderma mycelium edited.jpg