SHIFTING SYMBIOTIC SCENARIOS AT THE DAWN OF LAND PLANT-FUNGUS ASSOCIATIONS
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leeds
Department Name: Sch of Biology
Abstract
Plants colonised Earth's landmasses more than 475 Ma, drastically altering the development of the terrestrial biosphere, with far-reaching consequences for all subsequent terrestrial life. It is widely thought that symbiotic fungi facilitated early plant terrestrialisation by enhancing access to mineral nutrients in exchange for photosynthetically-fixed organic carbon. Our recent discoveries have brought into question the hitherto-assumed identity, biology and function of the fungal symbionts of the earliest diverging lineages of extant land plants. Our project addresses these fundamental knowledge gaps, including critical new questions arising from our previous research about the regulation and compatibility of plant-fungal associations. This project promises fascinating discoveries into the intertwined past, present and future of plants, microbes and soils.
More than 80% of plants today associate with soil-dwelling fungi called Glomeromycota, forming mutually beneficial partnerships known as arbuscular mycorrhizas (AM). These cooperative partnerships involve the transfer of plant sugars, produced through photosynthesis, to fungal partners in return for essential nutrients mined from minerals in the soil by the fungi. When the first rootless plants emerged from water onto dry land more the 475 million years ago, it is thought that cooperative fungi provided the nutrients that plants needed to grow on land. Recent research by members of the project team has shown that some of the most evolutionarily ancient plants on Earth, the liverworts, form partnerships with fungi that are probably more evolutionarily ancient than AM. These fungi are called Mucoromycotina. Our findings suggest that associations between liverworts and Mucoromycotina fungi may be ancestral to the mycorrhizal symbiosis, paving the way for the colonisation of the terrestrial environment by plants and the evolution of the intricate terrestrial ecosystems that we are familiar with today. It is equally possible that the earliest land plants actually associated with both Mucoromycotina and AM simultaneously, as some plants still do today. For more than 30 years there has been a focus on AM as the ancestral plant-fungal symbiosis but with our surprising recent discovery of an alternative globally widespread and ancient association, we have the unique opportunity and pressing need to understand a new biology with potentially myriad ramifications for life on Earth.
By using cutting-edge and novel methodologies from different fields of science, our research will generate crucial insights into the functioning and compatibility of cooperation between both groups of fungi with several major groups of land plants. Our experiments will be carried out under different atmospheric CO2 concentrations, reflecting the changing CO2 concentrations on Earth through evolutionary time, providing exciting new insights into the structure, function and evolution of modern plant-fungal symbioses.
Through a deeper mechanistic and evolutionary understanding of the interaction between CO2 and diverse soil fungi, our research expands into wider aspects of soil ecology, plant-soil processes, and may lead to more efficient conservation strategies (see Pathways to Impact document). Through examining the physiological responses of symbiosis through different groups of land plants, this research will aid understanding and prediction of responses of these systems to ongoing changes in atmospheric CO2 concentrations; important considerations within the NERC Climate System and Biodiversity strategies, and with major implications for food security and soil ecology. Looking further into the future, the techniques and hypotheses that we develop and test through this research are transferable to other economically-important symbioses within the plant kingdom, such as fungal diseases of crops and the use of mycorrhizas in crops for future sustainable agriculture.
More than 80% of plants today associate with soil-dwelling fungi called Glomeromycota, forming mutually beneficial partnerships known as arbuscular mycorrhizas (AM). These cooperative partnerships involve the transfer of plant sugars, produced through photosynthesis, to fungal partners in return for essential nutrients mined from minerals in the soil by the fungi. When the first rootless plants emerged from water onto dry land more the 475 million years ago, it is thought that cooperative fungi provided the nutrients that plants needed to grow on land. Recent research by members of the project team has shown that some of the most evolutionarily ancient plants on Earth, the liverworts, form partnerships with fungi that are probably more evolutionarily ancient than AM. These fungi are called Mucoromycotina. Our findings suggest that associations between liverworts and Mucoromycotina fungi may be ancestral to the mycorrhizal symbiosis, paving the way for the colonisation of the terrestrial environment by plants and the evolution of the intricate terrestrial ecosystems that we are familiar with today. It is equally possible that the earliest land plants actually associated with both Mucoromycotina and AM simultaneously, as some plants still do today. For more than 30 years there has been a focus on AM as the ancestral plant-fungal symbiosis but with our surprising recent discovery of an alternative globally widespread and ancient association, we have the unique opportunity and pressing need to understand a new biology with potentially myriad ramifications for life on Earth.
By using cutting-edge and novel methodologies from different fields of science, our research will generate crucial insights into the functioning and compatibility of cooperation between both groups of fungi with several major groups of land plants. Our experiments will be carried out under different atmospheric CO2 concentrations, reflecting the changing CO2 concentrations on Earth through evolutionary time, providing exciting new insights into the structure, function and evolution of modern plant-fungal symbioses.
Through a deeper mechanistic and evolutionary understanding of the interaction between CO2 and diverse soil fungi, our research expands into wider aspects of soil ecology, plant-soil processes, and may lead to more efficient conservation strategies (see Pathways to Impact document). Through examining the physiological responses of symbiosis through different groups of land plants, this research will aid understanding and prediction of responses of these systems to ongoing changes in atmospheric CO2 concentrations; important considerations within the NERC Climate System and Biodiversity strategies, and with major implications for food security and soil ecology. Looking further into the future, the techniques and hypotheses that we develop and test through this research are transferable to other economically-important symbioses within the plant kingdom, such as fungal diseases of crops and the use of mycorrhizas in crops for future sustainable agriculture.
Planned Impact
Our research proposal aims to address fundamental questions relating to the processes that control the functioning and specificity of mutually beneficial partnerships between land plants and their fungal partners. By examining the responses of plant-fungal symbiosis through key clades of land plants for which such data is currently non-existent, this project will aid understanding and prediction of responses of these systems to future changes in carbon dioxide concentration; important considerations within the NERC Climate System and Biodiversity strategies, and with potentially major implications for soil ecology and food security.
Appeal and benefit of research to wider communities:
1. Researchers and wider scientific audience
This proposal addresses a major gap in our current knowledge and understanding of mycorrhizal symbioses and the evolution of Earths ecosystems. This work will directly interest and benefit researchers in plant-fungal symbioses, evolutionary ecologists, biochemists and Earth system scientists, vegetation and plant-soil nutrient cycling modellers. The techniques and hypotheses that will be developed are potentially applicable to other economically-important plant symbioses, e.g. crop-mycorrhiza interactions in sustainable agriculture.
2. Conservation bodies, policy makers and lobby groups
At least 10% of the c. 1,000 UK bryophyte species are threated and 111 are listed on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. In addition, the IUCN red list of threatened species currently includes 53 species of liverwort alone, many of which are symbiotic with fungi. Our research will be of direct interest to conservation biologists such as those involved in the Threatened Byrophyte Database (part of the British Bryological Society), and ecologists at related organisations including Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). These target stakeholders are likely to benefit from gaining new insights into the functional nature of the diverse fungal symbionts in a range of under-studied plant taxa, allowing for a more targeted conservation approach and policies. Our research relates to major themes in conservation biology, such as invasive species and loss of biodiversity by addressing questions about the diversity and functioning of fungal symbionts and the role these interactions may play in interspecific competition in plant communities. Our proposal is particularly relevant to the snowbed vegetation monitoring work carried out by SNH. This work has been ongoing for the last nine years and focusses on the loss of specialist snowbed plants, many of which are bryophytes, from core snowbed sites in the Scottish highlands. Given that the environment beneath the snowbeds is enriched in CO2 and the soils are skeletal, our work is likely to help inform SNH conservation strategies by providing critical information about symbiotic fungal functioning and plant-fungal specificity in such habitats.
2. General public
By seeking to understand one of the most pivotally important symbiotic relationships on Earth that helped sculpt the complex and varied ecosystems of today, our research is of interest to the general public. Members of the project team have previously engaged with the public and students of school age through a number of outreach activities related to plant biology, plant evolution and Earth history such as Imperial Fringe, Science Uncovered, Nature Live, and World Fascination of Plants Day. Previous work by members of the project team has been covered by various media, including US Public Radio and national newspapers, showing the appetite and enthusiasm the general public has for our research
Appeal and benefit of research to wider communities:
1. Researchers and wider scientific audience
This proposal addresses a major gap in our current knowledge and understanding of mycorrhizal symbioses and the evolution of Earths ecosystems. This work will directly interest and benefit researchers in plant-fungal symbioses, evolutionary ecologists, biochemists and Earth system scientists, vegetation and plant-soil nutrient cycling modellers. The techniques and hypotheses that will be developed are potentially applicable to other economically-important plant symbioses, e.g. crop-mycorrhiza interactions in sustainable agriculture.
2. Conservation bodies, policy makers and lobby groups
At least 10% of the c. 1,000 UK bryophyte species are threated and 111 are listed on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. In addition, the IUCN red list of threatened species currently includes 53 species of liverwort alone, many of which are symbiotic with fungi. Our research will be of direct interest to conservation biologists such as those involved in the Threatened Byrophyte Database (part of the British Bryological Society), and ecologists at related organisations including Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). These target stakeholders are likely to benefit from gaining new insights into the functional nature of the diverse fungal symbionts in a range of under-studied plant taxa, allowing for a more targeted conservation approach and policies. Our research relates to major themes in conservation biology, such as invasive species and loss of biodiversity by addressing questions about the diversity and functioning of fungal symbionts and the role these interactions may play in interspecific competition in plant communities. Our proposal is particularly relevant to the snowbed vegetation monitoring work carried out by SNH. This work has been ongoing for the last nine years and focusses on the loss of specialist snowbed plants, many of which are bryophytes, from core snowbed sites in the Scottish highlands. Given that the environment beneath the snowbeds is enriched in CO2 and the soils are skeletal, our work is likely to help inform SNH conservation strategies by providing critical information about symbiotic fungal functioning and plant-fungal specificity in such habitats.
2. General public
By seeking to understand one of the most pivotally important symbiotic relationships on Earth that helped sculpt the complex and varied ecosystems of today, our research is of interest to the general public. Members of the project team have previously engaged with the public and students of school age through a number of outreach activities related to plant biology, plant evolution and Earth history such as Imperial Fringe, Science Uncovered, Nature Live, and World Fascination of Plants Day. Previous work by members of the project team has been covered by various media, including US Public Radio and national newspapers, showing the appetite and enthusiasm the general public has for our research
Organisations
Publications
Rimington W
(2016)
Molecular Mycorrhizal Symbiosis
Pressel S
(2016)
Pteridophyte fungal associations: Current knowledge and future perspectives
in Journal of Systematics and Evolution
Desirò A
(2017)
Multigene phylogeny of Endogonales, an early diverging lineage offungi associated with plants
in IMA Fungus
Rimington WR
(2018)
Ancient plants with ancient fungi: liverworts associate with early-diverging arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.
in Proceedings. Biological sciences
Mills BJW
(2018)
Nutrient acquisition by symbiotic fungi governs Palaeozoic climate transition.
in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
Description | We have discovered that Mucoromycotina symbioses are mutualistic with vascular plants, that they are much more widespread than previously thought - extending across the angiosperms (see Hoysted et al., 2018; 2019), including many crops (e.g. wheat, barley, oats). We have discovered Mucoromycotina fungi play a greater role in N nutrition than arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, particularly in vascular plants (see Hoysted et al., 2019) We have discovered that Mucoromycotina fungi are able to access a wider range of nitrogen sources (inorganic and organic) than previously thought, and pass these nutrients on to their plant partner (see Field et al., 2019), this could be really important in our understanding of the Earth's terrestrial ecosystems and may change much of what we thought we knew about mycorrhizal symbioses. We established new, relaible protocols for isolating and sub-culturing symbiotic Mucoromycotina fungi. We sequenced new isolates (see Hoysted et al., 2019) and have maintained these in culture. |
Exploitation Route | Further grant funding applications, conservation policy/strategies for endangered species (e.g. Lycopodiella inundata), translation into economically important species. |
Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Environment Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism Other |
Description | Katie Field and Martin Bidartondo were featured in a Smith and Nasht documentary (The Kingdom: How fungi made the world) for broadcast in Canada, Australia, NZ, Sweden, France, Germany in April 2018 (http://www.smithandnasht.com/fungi/ - documentary available to download here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/thekingdom). Katie Field advised on the development of the "Invisible Worlds" exhibition at the Eden Project in Cornwall and gave a public lecture on the role of "invisible" fungi on the development and evolution of Earth's biosphere and atmosphere. Katie Field was interviewed by BBC Radio Wales regarding the publication of Kew's State of the World's Fungi report. Katie Field participated and co-designed a hands-on public workshop at the Eden Project, Cornwall on "Making the invisible, visible: Fantastic fungi" to help people visualise and explore "invisible" fungal helpers living within plant roots |
Sector | Creative Economy,Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Other |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal Policy & public services |
Description | Postnote on Sustaining the Soil Microbiome (PN-0601) |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
URL | http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/POST-PN-0601 |
Description | Consolidator Grant. "MYCOREV - A Mycorrhizal Revolution: the role of diverse symbiotic fungi in modern terrestrial ecosystems" |
Amount | € 2,059,000 (EUR) |
Funding ID | 865225 |
Organisation | European Research Council (ERC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | Belgium |
Start | 05/2020 |
End | 06/2025 |
Description | How did the evolution of plants, microbial symbionts and terrestrial nutrient cycles change Earth's long-term climate? |
Amount | £617,796 (GBP) |
Funding ID | NE/S009663/1 |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2019 |
End | 05/2023 |
Description | LOCKED UP: The role of biotic and abiotic interactions in the stabilisation and persistence of soil organic carbon |
Amount | £611,642 (GBP) |
Funding ID | NE/S004963/1 |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2019 |
End | 02/2024 |
Description | Philip Leverhulme Prize 2017 |
Amount | £100,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | The Leverhulme Trust |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2018 |
End | 01/2021 |
Description | Standard Grant |
Amount | £364,890 (GBP) |
Funding ID | NE/N002067/1 |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2016 |
End | 02/2019 |
Title | Data from: Ancient plants with ancient fungi: liverworts associate with early-diverging arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi |
Description | Arbuscular mycorrhizas are widespread in land plants including liverworts, some of the closest living relatives of the first plants to colonise land 500 MYA. Previous investigations reported near-exclusive colonisation of liverworts by the most recently evolved arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, the Glomeraceae, indicating a recent acquisition from flowering plants at odds with the widely-held notion that arbuscular mycorrhizal-like associations in liverworts represent the ancestral symbiotic condition in land plants. We performed an analysis of symbiotic fungi in 674 globally-collected liverworts using molecular phylogenetics and electron microscopy. Here we show every order of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi colonises early-diverging liverworts, with non-Glomeraceae being at least ten times more common than in flowering plants. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in liverworts and other ancient plant lineages (hornworts, lycopods and ferns) were delimited into 58 taxa and 36 singletons, of which at least 43 are novel and specific to liverworts. The discovery that early plant lineages are colonised by early-diverging fungi supports the hypothesis that arbuscular mycorrhizas are an ancestral symbiosis for all land plants. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.n4709m8 |
Title | Fungal symbiont diversity drives growth of Holcus lanatus depending on soil nutrient availability |
Description | Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi frequently colonise plant roots and can affect plant morphology and physiology through their contribution to plant nutrition. However, the functional role of AM fungi in the presence of other microbial symbionts, including widespread Mucoromycotina 'fine root endophytes' (MFRE) fungi, remains largely unknown. While both AM fungi and MFRE transfer nutrients, including nitrogen, from inorganic and organic sources to host plants, their combined effects on co-colonised plants have only been investigated in liverworts. Here, we compare the morphology and physiology of the grass Holcus lanatus grown with an AM fungal community versus a more diverse symbiotic fungal community containing both AM fungi and MFRE. Holcus lanatus plants were grown in the presence of either a diverse MFRE+AM fungi soil inoculum or a multi-species AM fungal inoculum. Plant traits associated with growth were quantified, along with fungal transfer of 15N tracer to plants from a variety of sources (ammonium chloride, alanine, glycine, algal necromass). Holcus lanatus grown with the AM fungal community had greater root and shoot growth during early development and prior to the addition of 15N-labelled sources, compared to plants grown with the more diverse symbiotic fungal community. When nitrogen sources were made available to the fungal symbionts in the pot microcosms, plants growing with the MFRE+AM fungi soil inoculum had a faster growth rate than plants growing with the AM fungal community. At harvest, H. lanatus grown with the AM fungal community had a larger biomass and there were no differences in 15N tracer assimilation in plants across the two fungal community treatments. Our results demonstrate that the diversity of fungal inocula in conjunction with soil nutrient availability determines the benefits derived by plants from diverse fungal symbionts. Our research contributes to understanding host plant outcomes in diverse multi-symbiont scenarios. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2024 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.pc866t1ww |
Description | BBC Radio 4: The Today Programme (18.12.17) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | BBC Radio 4: The Today Programme (18.12.17) Interview with John Humphrys regarding research paper publication (Mills et al., 2018). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | BBC Radio Wales interview: State of the World's Fungi response |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | BBC Radio Wales interview (Good Morning Wales), response to publicaiton of Kew's State of the World's Fungi. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | BBC Radio Wales: Good Morning Wales (18.12.17) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | BBC Radio Wales: Good Morning Wales (18.12.17) Interview with Rachael Garside about research paper publication (Mills et al., 2018). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Kingdom of Fungi (release 2018) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Kingdom of Fungi (release 2018) - Our research was featured in filming at UoL and Kew Gardens for forthcoming TV documentary The Kingdom of Fungi (Smith & Nascht - http://www.smithandnasht.com/fungi/) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://www.smithandnasht.com/fungi/ |
Description | Making the invisible, visible: Fantastic fungi, public engagement workshop, Eden Project, Cornwall. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Part of impact activities for NE/S009663/1, we devised and ran a hands-on workshop to help people visualise and explore "invisible" fungal helpers living within plant roots. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Observations on Being - scientific consultant for immersive, multisensory installation at Charterhouse Heritage Park, Coventry (June-August 2021) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | "Mapping the journey of breath from different scientific and cultural perspectives, this multisensory narrative of epic proportions uncovers the living worlds both beyond and within us, to reveal the deep and beautiful truths that lie just outside the limits of our perception. Inviting audiences to cross the threshold and follow an expansive journey through the invisible natural world, Observations on Being brings together a series of thought-provoking and immersive audiovisual art installations and soundscapes, which challenge our ideas of life and death and examine our symbiotic relationship with nature. The ambitious works will be located across the beautiful, tree-filled spaces and buildings of Charterhouse Heritage Park - Joseph Paxton's Grade I listed cemetery and its arboretum." https://yorkmediale.com/events/observations-on-being/ |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://yorkmediale.com/events/observations-on-being/ |
Description | PNAS Inner Workings article |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Our research on this project was featured in a PNAS Inner Workings article: Inner Workings: Special relationship between fungi and plants may have spurred changes to ancient climate (http://www.pnas.org/content/114/46/12089) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.pnas.org/content/114/46/12089 |
Description | Participation in podcast |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | invited to participate in "Life in the Soil" podcast (https://rilliglab.org/podcast/). Life in the Soil is a collaboration between the Rillig Lab, at the Freie Universität Berlin - Institut für Biologie, and podcaster Anja Krieger. The podcast is funded through the BiodivERsA projekt Digging Deeper. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
URL | https://rilliglab.org/podcast/ |
Description | Public lecture for "More than a mushroom" event, Light Night, Leeds |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Public lecture on how fungi helped the Earth get green and future role in sustainability, invited as part of Kew's Grow Wild activities "More than a mushroom" event at University of Leeds for Leeds City Light Ninght (4-6.10.2018) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Public lecture on fungi at Eden Project |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Public lecture on significance of "invisible" fungi to general public, e.g. agriculture, evolution, climate |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Science Uncovered - free open evening to showcase our research to the public |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | To communicate our research to a wide audience but on a one-to-one basis thus ensuring a high level of public engagement which resulted in numerous questions and lively discussion Very high level of social media activities; numerous enquiries from the public post-event, including volunteering opportunities |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017,2018 |
URL | https://media.nhm.ac.uk/Press-releases/Be-part-of-the-Natural-History-Museum-s-annual-science-extrav... |
Description | Sheffield DocFest Exchange: Beyond our own eyes |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Wellcome Trust-funded commission to collaborate with Gregory Herbert, an artist working with film, sculpture and installation (https://gregoryherbert.co.uk), to produce a film inspired by my research into plant-fungal interactions, premiered at COP26 at Glasgow CCA, November 2021 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://sheffdocfest.com/news/announcing-docfest-exchange-beyond-our-own-eyes-film-commissions |
Description | UCL second year undergraduate lecture on the Origin and Evolution of plant-fungus associations |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Give a broad understanding of the importance of fungal-associations in land plants |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | • IAB/IMoss Conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Keynote presentation 'Key land plant innovations in bryophytes: considerations on homology and evolution' highlighting the findings of the project to the international bryological research community |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.bryology2019.com/ |