This award will support collaborative research in microbial ecology involving Professor Steven Stephenson and two undergraduate students of Fairmont State College in West Virginia together with Professor David Orlovich of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. Recent studies of temperate rainforests on the southwest coast of the South Island of New Zealand indicate that the biodiversity and biomass of epiphytic communities in these forests are comparable to or even exceed those of tropical forests. The mantle of canopy soil is as much as 20 cm. thick. There have been no published studies of the microorganisms living in this rich environment. The objectives of this project are to assess the biodiversity and ecology of specific types of fungi living in the canopy soil microhabitat of these lowland temperate rain forests and to characterize the assemblages of microorganisms found there.
The project will provide an opportunity for two US undergraduate students to participate in field and laboratory research in New Zealand and to interact with scientists and students of the University of Otago. They will gain invaluable experience in international collaboration as well as working in a rain forest environment not available in the United States. The research itself will allow a body of baseline data to be developed on the abundance, biodiversity and general patterns of occurrence of microorganisms in a poorly known subsystem of temperate forests in the Southern Hemisphere.
