Plant Science — OUR SCIENTISTS

Louise Egerton-Warburton, Ph.D.

Conservation Scientist, Soil and Microbial Ecology

Ph.D. 1994, Curtin University of Technology, Australia

PUBLICATIONS
(847) 835-6915
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Research Interests

Plant-soil interactions in natural and restored ecosystems
Fungal diversity and ecology with an emphasis on mycorrhizal fungi
Consequences of alterations in climate, land-use, and species invasion cycles
Resiliance, complex systems, and network theory

TEACHING AND RESEARCH AFFILIATIONS

Fulbright Fellow, Fulbright Scholar Program, 1994–97
Adjunct Professor, Biological Sciences, Northwestern University, 2003 – present

SELECTED PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

2003 – present    Member, Soil Science Society of America
2000 – present    Member, Mycological Society of America
1996 – present    Member, Ecological Society of America
1995 – present    Member, Microscopy Society of America
1994 – present    Member, Australian and American Fulbright Alumni
1994 – present    Member, Australia Society for Microscopy

Statement

PHOTO: "amanita" mushroom My research focuses on the ecological links between the above- and below-ground biota, and in particular how mycorrhizal fungi are fundamental to the well-being of all aboveground communities and ecosystems. Mycorrhizal fungi form relationships with plant roots, and grow fine rootlike hyphae into the soil, where they acquire and transfer resources (water, phosphorus, nitrogen) to the plant in return for sugars to sustain growth. Their biomass can outweigh that of any other component in the soil biota, and their roles range from the control of nutrient cycling and the immobilization of greenhouse gases in their tissues (e.g., CO2) through to plant productivity.

Two recurring themes in my research are the mechanistic understanding of how these plant-fungal interactions affect community and ecosystem processes, and the consequences of alterations in climate, land-use, and species invasions on this relationship.

My current research interests can be broadly grouped into four areas:

Soil carbon sequestration: identifying and quantifying the pathways of carbon flow through rhizosphere fungal communities;
Understanding legacy effects in soils: plant communities, microbial communities, and biogeochemistry;
Mycorrhizal functioning and networks: uptake and (re-) distribution of nitrogen and water; and
Ecological controls of mycorrhizal fungal diversity and community structure: resilience, adaptation, and differentiation with changes in the environment.

PHOTO: "cortinarius" mushroom My approach to all research is pluralistic. I use both laboratory and field experiments to test ecological theory and my methodology incorporates molecular genetic techniques, stable isotopes, microscopy, standard in vitro culture techniques, and quantitative techniques, as well as well as algorithmic and statistic analyses. The questions I ask range from local or individual consequences through to ecosystem responses.

My research program actively involves high-school students (summer only), undergraduates (summer only), and graduate students (year-round).

Selected Publications

Querejeta, Egerton-Warburton, L.M., and Allen, M.F. 2009. Differential access to groundwater modulates the mycorrhizal responsiveness of oaks to inter-annual rainfall variability in a California woodland.
Ecology 90: 649-662.

Egerton-Warburton, L.M., Johnson, N.C., and Allen, E.B. 2007. Mycorrhizal community dynamics following nitrogen fertilization: a cross-site test in five grasslands. Ecological Monographs 77: 527-544.

Egerton-Warburton, L.M., J.I. Querejeta, and M.F. Allen. 2007. Common mycorrhizal networks provide a potential pathway for the transfer of hydraulically lifted water between plants. Journal of Experimental Botany, 58: 1473-1483.

Treseder, K.K., L.M. Egerton-Warburton, M.F. Allen, Y. Cheng, and W.C. Oechel, W.C. 2003. Alteration of soil carbon pools and communities of mycorrhizal fungi in a chaparral community exposed to elevated CO2. Ecosystems 6:786-796.

Egerton-Warburton, L.M., R.C. Graham, E.B. Allen, and M.F. Allen. 2001. Reconstruction of the historical changes in mycorrhizal fungal communities under anthropogenic nitrogen deposition. In Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 268:2479-2484.

Egerton-Warburton, L.M. and E.B. Allen. 2000. Shifts in the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi along an anthropogenic nitrogen deposition gradient. Ecological Applications 10:484-496.

CURRENT GRADUATE STUDENTS

Robert Hevey, M.S. program, Northwestern University

Nik Desai, M.S. program, Northwestern University, starting fall 2010

Lauren Umek, Ph.D. program, Northwestern University, starting fall 2010

PAST GRADUATE STUDENTS

Kara Borden (University of Illinois, Chicago, M.S., 2007)
Anthropogenic nitrogen deposition affects seasonal patterns of soil available nitrogen and distribution between organic and inorganic pools in oak-maple forests

Lauren Umek (Northwestern University, M.S., 2007)
Seasonal variation in key soils characteristics in a tallgrass prairie restoration gradient.

Joseph Gawronski-Salerno (Northwestern University, M.S., 2008)
Mycorrhizal alterations in the presence of an exotic invasive plant, Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard, Brassicaceae).

Rachel Gross (Northwestern University, M.S., 2008)
Effects of fire frequency on arbuscular mycorrhizal productivity in the tallgrass prairie

Jonathan DeLong (Northwestern University, M.S., 2009)
The influence of endophytic partners on patterns of weediness in a native Australian orchid, Microtis media

Zaid McKee-Krisberg (University of Illinois, Chicago, M.S., 2009)
Redistribution of labile nitrogen between growing and non-growing regions: Implications for differential responses of plant growth and N uptake to high CO2

Duane Ambroz (Northwestern University, M.S., 2010)
Soil carbon sequestration in the urban savannah

WEBSITES
International Culture Collection of (Vesicular) Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (INVAM)
INVAM is a living culture collection, where the primary goal is to acquire, propagate, characterize, and maintain germplasm of AMF in living cultures for preservation and distribution to any person or institution. The collection is curated and maintained by Dr. Joe Morton at WVU. The site contains germplasm information and accessions, basic tools in fungal biology, taxonomy, and ecology of AMF. http://invam.caf.wvu.edu/

Sister site: La Banque Européenne des Glomales (BEG), http://www.kent.ac.uk/bio/beg/

DEEMY
DEEMY is an information system for the morphological characterization of ectomycorrhizal fungi. http://www.deemy.de/

UNITE
UNITE is molecular database for the identification of fungi, primarily fungal rDNA ITS sequences, and designed to facilitate identification of environmental samples of fungal DNA.
http://unite.ut.ee/

The Santa Fe Institute
The Santa Fe Institute is a private, nonprofit research institute that has defined complex systems research and promoted the understanding of complex adaptive systems critical to addressing key environmental, technological, and biological challenges.
http://www.santafe.edu/