Our facilities include:

Greenhouses

Access to molecular labs

Some of our field sites:

The Long Term Mycorrhiza Research site

Alvars and Quarries of Southern Ontario

The Harvard Forest

Great Lakes Lacustrine Sand Dunes
Kapuskasing

 


Klironomos Lab - Dept. of Integrative Biology - University of Guelph - Guelph, Ontario, Canada- N1G 2W1 - (519) 824-4120 ext 56718



The Long Term Mycorrhiza Research Site (LTMRS)

A large portion of the work in our lab has been done at the Long-Term Mycorrhiza Research Site at the University of Guelph. This old-field ecosystem is part of the University of Guelph Arboretum. This easily accessible and tractable system has been used to understand the basic biology and ecology of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) as well as the role of AMF and other soil fungi in plant community and ecosystem processes.

Major findings from this site include:

1. AMF species richness can influence plant community composition and productivity

2. AMF species identity can alter the relationship between plant community diversity and productivity

3. AMF effects on host plants can be positive, neutral, or negative, depending on the plant species, the AMF species, and the geographic origin of the plant host and fungal symbiont

4. Different AMF taxa have unique life history strategies that may play a role in their function and distribution.

5. Different AMF taxa have different spatial distributions across the LTMRS, which may be related to their life history strategies and associations with different plant host species.




Quarries

One type of system in which members of our lab are working are alvar plant communities. Alvars are globally rare plant communities and 90% of remaining alvars in North America are in Ontario. Nothing is known about the soil ecology of alvar grasslands. Current work in the lab is describing the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in these communities in comparison to abandoned limestone quarries which are being restored into alvar communities.

Great Lakes Lacustrine Sand Dunes

Members of our lab are exploring changes in mycorrhizal communities over time by using sand dunes surrounding the Great Lakes. As you move away from the shoreline, one passes through historic shorelines and we are examing dunes as old as 5000 years before present. Three different sites are currently being explored to infer information about how the mycorrhizal symbiosis may change through time.