March 2026 AMS virtual seminar: Joanna Green - on fungal soil legacies
- ausmycsoc
- 10 hours ago
- 1 min read
We invite you to attend our upcoming AMS virtual seminar. This month, we're delighted to feature Dr Joanna Green, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Lincoln University.
Fungal Soil legacies: An unseen and often overlooked driver of pine invasion in Aotearoa | New Zealand
Dr Joanna Green (Taylor)
Lincoln University
Thursday, 26 March 2026
12 pm (AEST) / 2 pm (NZST)
Summary
Plants leave legacies in the soil that influence the future growth and success of plants grown in those soils. As such invasive plants can continue to assert their influence long after any removal or remediation. These soil legacies can be both abiotic and biotic, such as plant-associated microbes. Our work has investigated the persistence of fungal communities associated with invasive wilding pine trees in Aotearoa New Zealand. We used a variety of plant-soil-feedback experiments to test legacy effects and growth responses, finding a connection between invasive pine and non-native grasses. Understanding soil legacies may be especially important in the context of plant invasion or weed eradication and potential barriers to restoration.
About Joanna
Joanna is an environmental microbiologist. She likes to say, she appreciates the small things in life.
Recently there’s been a lot of attention on the human gut microbiome and how it can influence everything from disease resistance to even mood and wellbeing.
Joanna currently works with plants (specifically pines), and their “gut”, their roots and the soil they live in and their associated microbiota.
Her career has taken her from the mouth of the Amazon River to the Arctic tundra, from farms to native bush — and everywhere, there are incredible microbial stories waiting to be told.