[Plsfaculty] Griffin Davis MS Thesis Defense, 29 July, 2 PM Marley 230

[Mark A Beilstein]

Please join us on Tuesday, July 29th in Marley 230 when Griffin Davis will
defend her MS thesis entitled "BIODIVERSITY AND ANTHROPOGENIC CHANGE IN
FUNGAL COMMUNITIES OF THE SANTA RITA MOUNTAINS (ARIZONA, USA)"

Abstract:
Macrofungi – the subset of fungi distinguished by having macroscopic
sporocarps – play diverse ecological roles in wild ecosystems, including
substrate decomposition, enhancement of soil fertility, and facilitation of
rhizosphere dynamics as root symbionts. Recent observations facilitated by
current sequencing methods reveal that some macrofungi occur in an
endophytic phase within plant tissues. Thus, to characterize macrofungal
diversity it is beneficial to combine traditional methods such as
collections of sporocarps and reviews of fungal herbarium specimens with
evaluation of plant tissues for evidence of endophytic macrofungi. We
characterized macrofungal diversity in a biodiversity hotspot in southern
Arizona: the Santa Rita Mountains and the adjacent grasslands and oak
woodlands of the Santa Rita Experimental Range. The goal of my work was to
provide a first inventory of macrofungi in the Santa Rita region,
synthesizing data streams that include over 1000 community science records
collected via iNaturalist, a historic collection of herbarium specimens
collected over the last century from the area, current field inventories,
and sequencing of endophytes from plants to understand the contributions of
endophytes to macrofungal biodiversity in this area. Records of sporocarp
collection from over a century, coupled with new collections, iNaturalist
observations, and molecular analyses of endophyte communities, revealed
more than 300 species of macrofungi for the Santa Rita Mountains and Santa
Rita Experimental Range. New collections for the 2024 monsoon season
coupled with iNaturalist records added over 40 species to the known records
(>10%). We detected macrofungi as cryptic endophytes in both burned and
unburned grasslands, oak woodlands and conifer forests, but the
contribution to the macrofungal inventory of the region was limited
relative to the inputs of community scientists/observers and Herbarium
collections. Together these data show the importance of community
scientists and observers, natural history collections, and new collections
in detecting and characterizing macrofungal biodiversity.
___________________
Mark Beilstein, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Director of Graduate Studies
Bart Cardon Fellow
School of Plant Sciences
P.O. Box 210036
Forbes Building, Room 303
Tucson, AZ 85721-0036
mab-lab.org
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