Forest Microbiome & Ecosystem Ecology
Soils are alive. Incredibly diverse forest microbial communities have profound impacts on our world that we are just beginning to grasp. My team studies the forest microbiome. How does incredible microbial diversity affect which trees are in a forest, forest carbon sequestration and climate change forecasts? I focus on the ecology of mycorrhizal fungi - fungi that form a symbiosis with the roots of most plants on Earth – however I am broadly interested in links between microbes and ecosystems.
I founded Funga to translate my academic work into climate and biodiversity action. Funga is a startup that reintroduces fungal biodiversity intro forest landscapes to accelerate tree growth and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. More and more companies forming at the intersection of ecology and carbon cycle science as markets emerge around biodiversity and carbon. I think ecologists need to embrace the opportunity to bring the science to scale. Scaling forest microbiome discoveries into climate action is a unique challenge that needs to be met by a team of experts in microbial ecology, carbon cycle science, business strategy and forest operations.
My academic home is in the Crowther Lab at ETH Zürich. I have stepped into an affiliated scientist role here, as I pursue Funga full time. My team applied the methods of the human microbiome project to the forest, identifying combination of soil bacteria and fungi linked to forest carbon capture outcomes. Day to day work involved DNA sequencing, big data analysis, and developing new ways to translate microbiome information into ecological insight. We used forestry and reforestation projects to test the causality of our big data work, allowing our team to quantify the potential of active soil microbiome restoration to accelerate forest carbon capture as a climate solution. Our goal is to identify ways where we can create positive outcomes for soil biodiversity and climate. I continue to supervise several microbiome restoration projects through the ETH team.
I am a co-founder of SPUN | Society for the Protection of Underground Networks, the first global conservation organization dedicated to mycorrhizal fungi. I continue to serve as a scientific advisor for SPUN, consulting on fungal biodiversity mapping work. I am also a scientific advisor at Restor, a platform for the global restoration movement.
Soils are alive. Incredibly diverse forest microbial communities have profound impacts on our world that we are just beginning to grasp. My team studies the forest microbiome. How does incredible microbial diversity affect which trees are in a forest, forest carbon sequestration and climate change forecasts? I focus on the ecology of mycorrhizal fungi - fungi that form a symbiosis with the roots of most plants on Earth – however I am broadly interested in links between microbes and ecosystems.
I founded Funga to translate my academic work into climate and biodiversity action. Funga is a startup that reintroduces fungal biodiversity intro forest landscapes to accelerate tree growth and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. More and more companies forming at the intersection of ecology and carbon cycle science as markets emerge around biodiversity and carbon. I think ecologists need to embrace the opportunity to bring the science to scale. Scaling forest microbiome discoveries into climate action is a unique challenge that needs to be met by a team of experts in microbial ecology, carbon cycle science, business strategy and forest operations.
My academic home is in the Crowther Lab at ETH Zürich. I have stepped into an affiliated scientist role here, as I pursue Funga full time. My team applied the methods of the human microbiome project to the forest, identifying combination of soil bacteria and fungi linked to forest carbon capture outcomes. Day to day work involved DNA sequencing, big data analysis, and developing new ways to translate microbiome information into ecological insight. We used forestry and reforestation projects to test the causality of our big data work, allowing our team to quantify the potential of active soil microbiome restoration to accelerate forest carbon capture as a climate solution. Our goal is to identify ways where we can create positive outcomes for soil biodiversity and climate. I continue to supervise several microbiome restoration projects through the ETH team.
I am a co-founder of SPUN | Society for the Protection of Underground Networks, the first global conservation organization dedicated to mycorrhizal fungi. I continue to serve as a scientific advisor for SPUN, consulting on fungal biodiversity mapping work. I am also a scientific advisor at Restor, a platform for the global restoration movement.
