Investigating Drivers of Fungal Diversity in Yosemite National Park

Sydney Glassman is interested in the interactions between aboveground and belowground terrestrial communities, in particular the effects of mycorrhizal symbioses on plant community composition and function. She is also interested in understanding broad patterns of fungal and microbial diversity and the role of dispersal in shaping ectomycorrhizal communities. Sydney received her BA in Biology in 2008 from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA, where she also received a Masters of Environmental Studies in 2010. Sydney joined the Bruns lab at UC Berkeley in August 2010 and became a PhD candidate in May 2012.

Sydney is working on several projects investigating ectomycorrhizal fungal ecology, including a study of ectomycorrhizal fungi associated with tree islands in a subalpine habitat in Yosemite National Park and a survey of ectomycorrhizal fungal spore bank diversity in pine forests across North America. She is also investigating the cascading effects of Sudden Oak Death induced mortality of tanoak trees on ectomycorrhizal fungal communities in redwood tanoak forests across Big Sur and Marin County.