Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Plant Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Plant Sciences

Comparing Fungal Communities In Tsuga Heterophylla Seedling Roots Across Nurse Log Decay Stages And The Forest Floor, Ellie Olpin, Reisha Foertsch Jan 2023

Comparing Fungal Communities In Tsuga Heterophylla Seedling Roots Across Nurse Log Decay Stages And The Forest Floor, Ellie Olpin, Reisha Foertsch

Summer Research

Nurse logs are fallen, decaying trees that have been shown to facilitate the survival, establishment, and growth of tree seedlings, therefore making vital contributions to forest regeneration. Plant-fungi interactions may play a role in influencing seedling survival across nurse log decay and the forest floor. We sought to examine how fungal communities in seedling roots change between nurse logs and forest floor as well as across nurse log decay stages. To study this, we collected western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) seedlings (5-10 cm) from nurse logs of each decay stage and the forest floor at three field sites on the Olympic …


Using Dendrochronology To Create A Timescale Of Succession On Nurse Logs In The Olympic Temperate Rainforest, Sean Grealish Jan 2020

Using Dendrochronology To Create A Timescale Of Succession On Nurse Logs In The Olympic Temperate Rainforest, Sean Grealish

Summer Research

Previous work on the Olympic peninsula in Washington State has shown that recently fallen trees provide a germination location for seeds that cannot do so on the forest floor due to thick moss mats. My field work over two summers dating and surveying nurse logs yielded a crossover at ~70 years where ground mosses start to dominate over tree mosses and seedling abundance begins to decrease.


Undescribed Oomycete Pathogens On Zostera Marina And Z. Japonica In The Puget Sound, Theresa Proctor Jan 2019

Undescribed Oomycete Pathogens On Zostera Marina And Z. Japonica In The Puget Sound, Theresa Proctor

Summer Research

A diverse range of marine organisms relies on seagrass as a foundational species. However, seagrass populations are declining at an alarming rate and recent analysis of seagrass root microbiomes indicates that oomycetes (fungi-like protists that are notorious terrestrial plant pathogens) infect up to 99% of seagrasses worldwide. Shockingly, very little is known about marine oomycetes and their ecological roles. The Elliott lab has isolated and cultured six oomycete species from eelgrass (Zostera marina) root samples: Phytophthora gemini, aHalophytophthoraspecies discovered by WSU, and four undescribed oomycete species. During the summer of 2018, I generated temperature and salinity growth curves and isolated …


Microclimate Variation And Epiphyte Distribution In Acer Macrophylum, Jeremy Wood Jan 2016

Microclimate Variation And Epiphyte Distribution In Acer Macrophylum, Jeremy Wood

Summer Research

Habitat heterogeneity plays a key role in supporting biodiversity in both animals and plant life. More diverse environments provide more exploitable niches across gradients in temperature, humidity, light availability, and countless other variables at the landscape and regional scales. In specimens of Acer macrophylum in the Hoh Rainforest, we found significant variation in temperature and relative humidity across particular crown zones, and certain epiphyte species were found to distribute according to such microclimate variation.


Moss Composition Affects Seedling Density Of Western Hemlock And Sitka Spruce, Katy E. Maleta Ms. Jan 2016

Moss Composition Affects Seedling Density Of Western Hemlock And Sitka Spruce, Katy E. Maleta Ms.

Summer Research

Nurse logs at the Hoh National Forest represent a clear understanding of how important habitat heterogeneity is in old growth forests. Looking down a nurse log, you will find various moss species and debris along with seedlings being assisted in germination. By observation, there is an effect of moss composition on seedling density. We found that when moss depth increase, seedling density decreases. We also found that where the moss was the most thick, the moss species that was present was Hylocomium Splendens (Step Moss). We also found that when moss depth decreased, seedling density increased and the moss species …


Effects Of Sugar-Amendment On Bacterial & Fungal Abundance In Native Vs. Nonnative-Dominated Soils Of A Puget Lowland Prairie, Jessica Wong Jan 2012

Effects Of Sugar-Amendment On Bacterial & Fungal Abundance In Native Vs. Nonnative-Dominated Soils Of A Puget Lowland Prairie, Jessica Wong

Summer Research

Scotch broom is a nonnative plant that has invaded the plant communities of the Pacific Northwest in the United States. It associates with bacteria in the soil to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere, thereby elevating soil nitrogen levels and encouraging the invasion of the community by other nonnative plants like itself. Researchers have used sugar-amendment to decrease soil nitrogen and restore native plant growth. Our study took place in Glacial Heritage Preserve, a Puget lowland prairie that has been invaded by broom in several areas. We aimed to investigate whether sugar-amendment increased or decreased bacterial and fungal abundance in native …