Plant-Soil Feedbacks
Research Projects
My research investigates how tree–mycorrhizal associations shape biogeochemical cycling, soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics, and plant–soil feedbacks in temperate deciduous forests. By evaluating when, where, and at what spatial scales predicted nutrient economy framework patterns hold true, I aim to provide a more nuanced understanding of forest nutrient dynamics that directly informs climate-resilient forest management, land rehabilitation, and functional restoration design.
Mycorrhizal Nutrient Economies
This project evaluates how soil abiotic factors, leaf litterfall chemistry, and soil biogeochemical processes vary across a gradient from arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM)–dominated, mixed, to ectomycorrhizal (EM)–dominated stands. We test whether variation in soil carbon and nitrogen pools and fluxes adheres to the organic versus inorganic nutrient cycling predictions of the Mycorrhizal-Associated Nutrient Economy (MANE) framework, or if these mechanisms operate differently at the tree-neighborhood scale versus the plot scale. By placing belowground symbioses and spatial neighbor dynamics at the core of restoration strategies, understanding these interactions between species and guilds allows us to improve plant establishment and target soil functional recovery in degraded landscapes.
Biological Nitrogen Fixation
To address potential equalizing mechanisms in soil inorganic nitrogen cycling across stands, this study measures biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) and respiration rates in soil and litter across a mycorrhizal gradient. We examine whether how other microbes supply new nitrogen to otherwise nitrogen-scarce environments in guild-specific litter microenvironments potentially acting as a biogeochemical mechanism that buffers nutrient availability and. In degraded landscapes, targeting these plant-fungal and microbial interactions provides a key mechanism for recovering soil fertility and overcoming persistent alternate stable states.
Litterfall Phenology
Taking a temporal approach, this research investigates the role of mycorrhizal guilds and neighboring tree interactions in leaf litterfall phenology and nutrient resorption proficiency. We examine how tree-tree neighbor combinations alter the timing of seasonal nutrient returns and evaluate whether broad mycorrhizal classifications alone capture temporal ecosystem dynamics without accounting for canopy neighborhood contexts. Understanding how tree-neighbor interactions regulate seasonal litterfall timing and nutrient flushes enables restoration ecologists to structure canopy planting configurations that protect soil and stabilize nutrient cycles.
Tracing Nutrient Transfer
Using isotopic tracing and fine-scale root isolation, this project examines how mycorrhizae structure niche partitioning, competition, network-mediated resource transfer, and root-to-root interactions between AM and EM fungi and their plant symbionts during early establishment. Quantifying these fine-scale plant-fungal resource pathways helps practitioners optimize species combinations and field planting configurations to accelerate ecosystem recovery in disturbed soils.
