New paper out today in the ISME | International Society for Microbial Ecology Journal and the first product from our ESIIL (Environmental Data Science Innovation and Impact Lab) working group on Fungal Dispersal. Check it out!
academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
Posts by Ryan Stephens
Over 20 years of scat analyses reveal how truffle-like fungi respond to climate change.
First paper of PHD student Emily McIntyre from @unimelb.edu.au
🦘🍄🟫🌱
@ausmycsoc.bsky.social
@esaplantsoilecol.bsky.social
Truffles and carnivores made the news. Our Ecology Letters paper was picked up by the @economist.com last week: www.economist.com/science-and-...
Research shows that carnivores play an important role in ecosystem function by providing a largely overlooked mechanism for long-distance dispersal of beneficial mycorrhizal fungi.
twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/...
Thanks for all your help in getting it to this stage!
Out in Ecology Letters! We assessed the effectiveness of #carnivores as secondary dispersers of mycorrhizal #fungi. Larger carnivores deposited fewer spores but moved them farther, creating a continuum between the quantity & quality of dispersal effectiveness. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
An interesting study from Japan observes how animal-dispersed truffle-like fungi are more prone to genetic isolation due to forest fragmentation. Not a surprising finding, but interesting to consider from a conservation standpoint!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
🦅🌱Secondary seed dispersal by migrant harriers in India
📷 © Sankar Subramanian
vist.ly/4cfkr
#Diploendozoochory #Grasslands #OpenNaturalEcosystems #Raptor
Excited to share our most recent work in collaboration with @liedcarneiro.bsky.social . We link network properties with estimates of pollination success. Check it out!
Water cascades down a shallow creek over large slate rocks. Yellow and orange leaves mix with some still green in front of a pale blue sky
Two men leaning on hiking sticks are deep in conversation standing at the base of a large waterfall. Leaves in the foreground are starting to transition from green to the yellows and oranges of fall.
Deeply variegated leaves of wild ginger with pale green patterns overlying a dark mint green stick out against the browns of the forest floor
Pale purple aster flowers pop next to leaves in the midst of fall colors change
Saturday site visit today at Abram's Falls with @ryanbstephens.bsky.social, beautiful fall weather, and the onset of fall colors in southern Appalachia 🍁🍂
An ad for a PhD position to start fall 2026 working with me at ETSU. For more info, please email at LeeBR1@etsu.edu.
A close-up picture of dimpled trout lilies active in early spring, still largely surrounded by the previous year's senesced tree leaves.
A beautiful vista of the Blue Ridge Mountains from on top of Carver's Gap on the border between North Carolina and Tennessee.
🚨 Please repost widely!🚨
I am recruiting a PhD student to join my lab next fall to work on forest and climate change ecology projects in southern Appalachia! Come join me in one of the most beautiful, biodiverse, and understudied parts of North America. Details below and happy to answer questions
You know your Google Scholar alerts are keyed in when it suggests your own papers and your student's theses!
I'm hiring! Please share!
Join me this winter as a #wildlife #ecology technician. 6 months at $18/hr and subsidized housing available. Maintain a #cameratrap array, #bobcat and #fisher live trapping transects, and telemetry. More: blackrockforest.org/work_with_us
Dang!
Nice, thanks! Was actually just looking at that one this afternoon.
annihilated*
I'm #teaching an introduction to research class in #biology for undergraduates this term. Anyone have a good suggestion for a short paper or text on questions, objectives, and hypothesis with a biology focus?
Looks salvageable. We had an 18 inch white pine that absolutely initiated one of ours.
Thanks! Wish we had more voices like yours here in the USA!
I'm giving a talk on Tuesday about carnivores as dispersers of mycorrhizal fungal spores as part of a special session on fungal spore dispersal. Come check it out if you are here in Baltimore and like fungi, carnivores, or trophic interactions. #ESA2025
Mechanisms that potentially contribute to the maintenance of interactions between bacteria, ectomycorrhizal fungi (EcMF), and land trees across varied developmental periods.
“…when organisms interact can largely determine how they interact.”
#Viewpoint: Is it all about timing? Identifying the symbiosis critical points that govern interactions among #bacteria, ectomycorrhizal #fungi, and land #trees
By Louis Berrios 👇
📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Congrats!
Our new global study led by @smriti-pehim-limbu.bsky.social is now out in @pnas.org. TLDR: Certain spore traits were linked to climate AND species range sizes! YES we can use traits to gain insight into env adaptations for microbes.
#mycorrhizas #spores #NSFfunded
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
Our review led by S. Savazza "Measuring Personality in Wild Small Mammals: A Review of Methods and Proposal for a Standardised Approach" is out, free open access, in mammal review
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
A map showing telemetry and roost locations of sympatric northern and southern flying squirrels at a location in Ontario, Canada
New from Rebekah Persad and the Kawartha Flying Squirrel Project: Home range size, habitat selection, and mycophagy of sympatric North American flying squirrels esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Big day in the lab. Noah, successfully defended his thesis (my first student) and knocked it out of the park! I also submitted a manuscript from a project that we have been working on for about 6 years.
New paper out! 🏙️ We found that urbanisation simplifies and homogenises seed dispersal networks. 🪴🐦⬛ Non-native plants dominate in cities, accounting for 61% 😔 of interactions in the urban network vs just 15% in forests! 🪻🌿🌴
Check it out: doi.org/10.1111/cobi...
🌐🧪🌍🍁
Forestry trials set up decades ago are key to understanding long term outcomes of management. This study looks at recovery of EcM fungi nearly 30 years (!) post harvest. Nice work👍from a great team.
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Our paper shows that most ectomycorrhizal fungal species (83% of OTUs) are "dark taxa": species we detect in DNA, but can't match to known species names. We map global "darkspots" - the parts of the world most in need of more research. @spun.earth @ethz.ch www.cell.com/current-biol...