Symposium Attendance!

I had fun presenting at the University of Miami Graduate and Postdoctoral Research Symposium with my fellow graduate students from the biology department . I presented my work on how foliar fungal diversity impacts host plant performance. I found that when commensals are put together into communities they lead to non-additive effects on plant growth. Hopefully you will be able to read about it in a published journal soon. It was really nice to hear about other research going on at the university even if its outside of our field.

A bumpy road

In the returning saga on my attempt to study the Ipomoea and fungal Periglandula relationship, my plants got spider mites somehow. I believe this one here is a two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae. I applied bug soap in an effort to get rid of them and I think I succeeded.

Once the plants recovered, I began to trial my fungicide treatments and they just would not work. I tried varying concentrations of Tebucanozole and still Periglandula would return to the leaf surface after a week. I didn't want to continuously add fungicide in case it would harm the plant and I want to finish my PhD by Fall 2022 and didn't have time to order new fungicide, trial it, and perform the experiment I had planned. So instead, I'm doing a completely different project for my last dissertation chapter that will hopefully have a quick turn-around! In science it's important to be flexible!

They're Growing!

This past summer I collected Ipomoea pes-caprae plants. They form an interesting relationship with a fungus called Periglandula that secretes ergot alkaloids which prevent herbivory on these plants. You can propagate them clonally if you cut them, let them soak in water until roots form, and then plant. They're growing!. You see those white fuzzies on the leaf in the picture? That is most likely Periglandula tissue! (maybe... I still need to confirm with PCR and gels)