Underground Explorers

This project will explore the mycorrhizal communities of native Picea schrenkiana forests in the Tian Shan mountains of Kazakhstan. These mountain forests occur mainly in Ile-Alatau and Zhongar Alatau National Parks and represent an underexplored ecosystem with almost no published information on belowground fungal diversity. The project will collect approximately 50 soil and root samples along an elevation gradient across 10–15 sites. Ectomycorrhizal communities will be studied through root-tip morphotyping, ITS2 metabarcoding, and Sanger sequencing, while arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi associated with ground vegetation will also be assessed. The study aims to identify unique and potentially endemic mycorrhizal taxa, improve understanding of forest soil biodiversity, and support conservation awareness for Kazakhstan's mountain forest ecosystems.