15 Sep 2025

Foliar Fungal Assemblages Associated with Diploid and Triploid Butomus umbellatus Populations in the United States

Purpose: Novel associations between plant invaders and fungi may moderate invader impacts if fungi are pathogenic or contribute to variation in invader response to management. Identifying and quantifying species associations with plant invaders can have management consequences. However, whether novel fungal associations and resulting assemblages are shaped by invader genetics is largely unknown. The goal of this research was to identify community patterns of foliar fungi associated with diseased and healthy diploid and triploid Butomus umbellatus (flowering rush) cytotypes in the United States. A total of 12 diploid and 9 triploid Butomus umbellatus L. populations in 10 states across the northern United States were surveyed, foliar fungi were isolated from healthy and diseased leaves, and a fungal assemblage structure analysis was conducted to determine whether assemblages were unique to B. umbellatus cytotypes. Differences in flowering rush–associated fungal assemblages and complex interaction between fungal taxa may promote uneven invasion between cytotypes in the United States and guide future management efforts to reduce the negative impacts caused by B. umbellatus invasions.

21 Mar 2023

Characterization of Pigmented Microbial Isolates for Use in Material Applications

Abstract: Organisms (i.e., plants and microorganisms) contain pigments that allow them to adapt and thrive under stressful conditions, such as elevated ultraviolet radiation. The pigments elicit characteristic spectral responses when measured by active and passive sensors. This research study focused on characterizing the spectral response of three organisms and how they compared to background spectral signatures of a complex environment. Specifically, spectra were collected from a fungus, a plant, and two pigmented bacteria, one of which is an extremophile bacterium. The samples were measured using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and discriminated using chemometric means. A top-down examination of the spectral data revealed that organisms could be discriminated from one another through principal component analysis (PCA). Furthermore, there was a strong distinction between the plant and the pigmented microorganisms. Spectral differences resulting in samples with the highest variance from the natural background were identified using PCA loading plots. The outcome of this work is a spectral library of pigmented biological candidates for coatings applications.