Underground Explorers

Situated within the Darién-Chocó Ecoregion, the moist tropical forests of northwestern Ecuador are a global biodiversity hotspot. Yet much of this biodiversity remains undescribed, particularly soil fungi that play critical roles in nutrient cycling, carbon storage, and soil stability. With over 90% of primary forest lost to deforestation, uncovering fungal diversity and understanding how management practices facilitate forest recovery are key research priorities. Our project will 1) quantify fungal diversity across intact forest and degraded pasture to understand how arbuscular mycorrhizal-, ectomycorrhizal-, and general soil fungal community composition shifts with land use, and 2) test how reforestation practices (tree island density and species richness) influences the recovery of fungal communities. Our study will increase insight into how restoration design impacts the linkages between above- and belowground recovery trajectories, and will track fungal composition from experimentally planted islands, to naturally regenerating pastures, to old-growth forests.