Background:
Plant interactions with fungi, ranging from mycorrhizal mutalisms to fungal diseases, are key drivers of plant evolution and ecology. Understanding the evolution and importance of these associations requires investigating plant hosts from across the land plant phylogeny and across the range of plant habitats. The epiphytic habitat (on the trunks of trees) has been little investigated for plant-fungal associations, presumably because much of the focus has been on the soil interface.
The Project:
In this project, you will use metabarcoding and culturing techniques to survey the diversity of fungi inhabiting epiphytic mosses in the family Orthotrichaceae (Orthotrichales). These mosses are common across the globe, inhabiting both trees and rocks. Next to nothing is known about the microbial communities inhabiting mosses of the whole order Orthotrichales. We expect to find fungal communities distinct from those known from mosses living on the ground and to detect undescribed fungal taxa. This project will include field work in Norway, molecular laboratory work, fungal culturing, phylogenetic analyses, and bioinformatics.
You will be member of the ISOP research group under the supervision of postdoc Jessica Nelson and Prof. Mika Bendiksby. ISOP values a positive, dynamic, and collaborative working environment. We will work collaboratively to develop your questions and hypotheses. Together we will also decide how much emphasis to place on training in the different skills involved in the work.