Underground Explorers

On the eastern edge of Texas Hill Country, the intersection of the Edwards Plateau and Blackland Prairie ecoregions creates a hotspot of biodiversity and provides a home to a number of endemic species across trophic levels. It is here where the restoration efforts of the Hill Country Research Program take place in the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Texas’s State Botanic Garden. For the past 23 years, land managers and researchers have leveraged prescribed fire and mowing treatments to address the spread of the invasive yellow bluestem (Bothriochloa ischaemum var songarica) and promote biodiversity within 75 acres of oak savanna. The resulting vegetation data has suggested the seasonality and frequency of these disturbances can have a significant impact on plant community composition and productivity (Ewing et al, 2005). Yet to be studied are the effects of restoration treatments on the associated arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Exploring the response of AMF communities within this system addresses a mechanistic link between disturbance and plant community recovery. The main goals of this study are to 1) identify the AMF unique to the calcareous glades and remnant prairies of the southern United States, and 2) explore how long-term restoration efforts impact the diversity and distribution of the ecoregions’ AMF communities.