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Solomon Maerowitz-McMahan

Candidature

PhD Candidate

Thesis Title

From Ashes to Insights: Mycorrhizal Fungi Role in Post-Fire Landscapes

Research  Project

Solomon Maerowitz-McMahan Communities in fire-affected ecosystems possess unique traits that aid survival and ecosystem recovery post-fire. Mycorrhizal fungi, crucial for decomposition, nutrient cycling, and plant productivity, play distinct roles in these landscapes. With fires increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change, understanding these communities and their functions is essential.

The central objective of this PhD thesis is to illustrate the potential of a trait-based framework to enhance our understanding of mycorrhizal fungal functions within ecosystems, as well as their responses to various disturbances. Specifically, this thesis aims to utilise fire as a disturbance to delve into the functional traits that enable mycorrhizal fungi to adapt to fire-prone environments. This project will investigate the long-term impacts of the 2019-2020 Black Summer megafires on mycorrhizal fungi in forests.

Despite advancements, substantial gaps persist in our comprehension of how these communities react to disturbances and the precise roles carried out by individual or collectives within these systems. Fire stands as a unique disturbance, distinguished by its variable impact on ecosystems contingent on factors such as fire regime, environmental conditions, and the impacted organisms' adaptations. The regime-dependent sterilisation caused by fire and its influence on nutrient availability yield distinct fungal adaptations, which can illuminate broader ecological functions.

This work is pioneering because it integrates fungal community profiling with fungal traits, which will be captured using mesh bag techniques bespoke to assessing mycorrhizal fungal traits. The project will represent the first published datasets of hyphal C:N:P combined with fungal traits from Australia and address knowledge gaps on mycorrhizal fungal responses to fire and roles in ecosystem recovery.

The insights derived from this work are poised to steer land management practices in fire-prone settings. This includes determining appropriate burn intervals and assessing carbon storage capacities of ecosystems, fostering the establishment of resilient and sustainable ecosystems.

Supervisors

Professor Jeff Powell, Dr Rachael Nolan, Dr Adam Frew