Our next Zoom meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 6. Our speakers will be Dr. Adriana Corrales and Justin Stewart from SPUN (Society for the Protection of Underground Networks) based in the Netherlands.

Mycorrhizal fungi (MF) have shaped the evolution of life for over 400 million years. Nearly all plants on Earth form symbiotic relationships with MF in and on below ground root systems. The underground lifestyle of MF has made it difficult to quantify their biodiversity across scales. SPUN aims to map MF diversity ranging from individual ecosystems to global mapping. Here Adriana and Justin will present SPUN’s approach to elucidating MF biogeography.

Dr. Adriana Corrales is a forest ecology with a joint position as an Assistant Professor at the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá. Her research focuses on the ecology and taxonomy of tropical ectomycorrhizal associations, and shifts in fungal community composition caused by biotic and abiotic factors. Her work has demonstrated key interactions between soil biogeochemical cycling, forest function, and ectomycorrhizal fungi in tropical montane forests.

Justin Stewart: Justin is an evolutionary ecologist studying plant-microbe symbiosis. Their work has taken them from the rooftops of cities, Amazon rainforest, and Central Asian Steppe. Currently Justin focuses on mapping mycorrhizal fungi from individual ecosystems to global maps, with a focus on quantifying uncertainty. Justin is a PhD candidate at VU Amsterdam and a scientist at SPUN.