Collaborative Research: Dispersal Limitation as a Primary Factor in Determining Ectomycorrhizal Community Structure

外生菌根真菌是温带森林树木（如松树、橡树、白杨和桦树）的专性共生菌。这些真菌为树木提供矿物质营养，以换取糖，树木需要它们来生长和生存。在森林火灾或伐木等严重干扰之后，树木需要重建与菌根真菌的关系才能生存。先前的研究表明，这些真菌在这些干扰之后以有序的顺序或“演替”到达。提出了一种新的模型，通过菌根真菌之间孢子扩散和竞争相互作用的差异来解释这种观察到的模式。该模型的四个关键预测是关于空气孢子传播的限制和树根密度对真菌竞争的影响，将通过现场采样和操纵生长室实验相结合进行测试。这项工作的更广泛的影响是，它将帮助我们了解树木建立所必需的基本生物过程，并将为一组重要的未被研究的生物建立基本生态知识的基础。研究生和本科生的培养将是本研究的重要组成部分。此外，这项工作利用了它在雷耶斯岬国家海岸的地理位置，通过反馈到公园内的管理决策，并通过针对公众教育的推广工作。

Ectomycorrhizal fungi are obligate mutualists with temperate forest trees such as pines, oaks, aspens, and birch. These fungi provide mineral nutrients to the trees in exchange for sugars, and trees require them for growth and survival. Following severe disturbance such as forest fires or logging, trees need to reestablish their relationships with mycorrhizal fungi in order to survive. Prior work has shown that these fungi arrive in an ordered sequence, or "succession", after such disturbances. A new model is proposed to explain this observed pattern through differences in spore dispersal and competitive interactions among mycorrhizal fungi. Four key predictions of this model concerning limitations to aerial spore dispersal and effect of tree root density on fungal competition will be tested through a combination of field sampling and manipulative growth-chamber experiments. The broader impacts of this work are that it will help us understand an essential biotic process necessary for tree establishment, and will build a foundation of basic ecological knowledge for an important group of understudied organisms. Training of graduate and undergraduate students will be an important component of this research. In addition this work takes advantage of its location within Point Reyes National Seashore by feeding back into management decisions within the park and through outreach efforts directed towards public education.