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Spring 2024

Lau, Nicole

Mountain pine beetle (MPB; Dendroctonus ponderosae) disturbances, amplified by climate change, have led to extensive tree mortality and ecosystem succession in boreal forests across western Canada. Often following attack, former ectomycorrhizal (EM) pine stands in Alberta are replaced by...

Spring 2021

Rodriguez Ramos, Jean Carlos

Novel disturbance regimes have impacted boreal forest with unknown consequences for belowground communities and underlying ecological processes. Soil fungi are an integral component of belowground communities and are particularly sensitive to disturbances. In the Canadian boreal forest, common...

Spring 2020

Brown, Ariel

Quantifying above and belowground inputs to soil organic matter is important to assess forest soil health and to develop practices that increase the soil organic matter present in forest soils. Cutin and suberin are biopolymers found in leaves and roots, respectively, that protect plants from...

Spring 2020

Wasyliw, Joshua

The abundance of fine roots and leaves in forests is predicted to peak during mid-succession and then decline. If fine roots decline more rapidly than leaves, reductions in fine roots could contribute disproportionately to stand decline. Ectomycorrhizal fungi (EcM), symbionts that facilitate...

Spring 2016

Hupperts, Stefan F

The relationship between trees and ectomycorrhizal fungi is fundamental for tree growth and survival, particularly in the boreal forests of North America where low temperatures inhibit decomposition and consequently limit nutrient availability. The responses of ectomycorrhizal fungal communities...

Spring 2023

Franklin, James

As part of reclaiming landscapes mined for bitumen, ecosystems must be revegetated to restore self-sustaining ecosystems in the boreal forest of western Canada. Current reclamation practices can involve the construction of large landforms, sometimes from overburden containing up to 8%...

Fall 2018

Metzler, Paul

Plant identification is a fundamental ecological tool. While identifying flowers and leaves is relatively straightforward, identifying roots can be difficult. Here, I expand the use of fluorescent amplified fragment length polymorphisms (FAFLPs) as a tool to identify roots. Using this molecular...

Spring 2018

Scott, Natalie M

The symbiosis between trees and ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) is essential for tree establishment and survival in the boreal forest because it is a disturbance prone ecosystem characterized by long harsh winters and low nutrient mobility. Ectomycorrhizal fungal community composition can be...

Spring 2019

Fellrath, Evan G

Soil fungal communities play vital roles in boreal forests as key organisms that cycle nutrients, facilitate uptake of resources for mycorrhizal plants, and store carbon. Forest disturbances often result in shifts in soil fungal community composition, yet, it is unclear if these effects are...

Fall 2015

Gaster, Jacob

The boreal forest is one of the largest forest ecosystems in the world, covering 14.7 million km2 globally. The Canadian boreal forest has a wealth of natural resources, including coal, timber, and oil; as resource exploration and exploitation has expanded, anthropogenic disturbance in the boreal...