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SUMMARY:Talk: Ectomycorrhizal fungi diversity in Ku-ring-gai Chase 
DESCRIPTION:
 
 Registration recommended but not essential
 
 2:30 pm\,
  Saturday 12 April St Andrews Uniting Church\, corner of Vernon Street and
  Chisholm Street\, Turramurra
 Margarita Gil-Fernández was the winner of
  our research grant in 2023. She will present a talk entitled Hidden resil
 ience warriors: Ectomycorrhizal fungi diversity in Ku-ring-gai Chase Natio
 nal Park and surrounding urban reserves.
 Fungi are known to form importa
 nt associations with the roots of trees. Within these\, ectomycorrhizal fu
 ngi (EMF) are essential in keeping forests healthy by enhancing the trees
 ’ use of water and providing them with soil minerals. In urban reserves\
 , EMF are even more important because of stressors in these habitats such 
 as increased heat and air pollution. Moreover\, as EMF depend largely on s
 mall mammals to be dispersed\, the continuity of these interactions in urb
 an reserves is essential. To understand these associations\, we studied th
 e EMF community diversity in small mammal scats and soil samples in Ku-rin
 g-gai Chase National Park (KNP) and surrounding urban reserves. We will pr
 esent our main findings\, including insights into the distribution and div
 ersity of EMF in KNP and urban reserves and the mammals that disperse them
 .
 Margarita is a biologist\, focused on the study of mammal ecology. Thr
 oughout her career she has studied wild cats\, such as ocelots in Mexico\,
  jaguars in Costa Rica\, and other carnivores such as red foxes in Austral
 ia. After this she worked in forestry\, with a focus on forest health in M
 exico. Through this position\, she got involved in a field project on rode
 nts and their ecology in response to anthropogenic disturbance. This took 
 her to her next step\, a PhD\, where she is studying how small mammals are
  affected by anthropogenic disturbance in Australia and Mexico. Her resear
 ch includes several aspects of small mammal ecology\, including interactio
 ns with mycorrhizal fungi\, ectoparasite loads and associated pathogens\, 
 as well as human attitudes towards small mammals.
 Contact: Helen Wortham
  (0423 534 148)
 
LOCATION:St Andrews Uniting Church\, Chisholm St\, South Turramurra NSW 207
 4\, Australia
DTSTART:20250412T043000Z
DTSTAMP:20241201T155617Z
ORGANIZER;CN=STEP:MAILTO:secretary@step.org.au
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  Chisholm St\, South Turramurra NSW 2074\, Australia;X-APPLE-RADIUS=72;X-T
 ITLE=St Andrews\, cnr Vernon St and Chisholm St\, Turramurra:-33.753653;15
 1.110285
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