How anthropogenic nitrogen deposition can alter belowground fungal communities and degradation rates in a Norwegian heathland system.
Project background
The boreal, alpine, and arctic heaths and forests are dominated by dwarf-shrubs along with their symbionts, ericoid mycorrhizal fungi. It remains to explore how their mycorrhizal symbionts mitigate damages resulting from climate change or pollution, since little is known about these plant-fungal interactions.
We are currently researching how drought, and changes in temperature and precipitation can influence underground fungal activity. We also want to know if and how anthropogenic nitrogen deposition affects fungal communites. To better understand the complex world of fungal ecology, we use metabarcoding (either short-read or long-read sequencing) and target various climatic gradients in dwarf-shrub dominated areas in Norway.
The DURIN project:
The DURIN project will assess key roles of dwarf-shrubs, such as carbon, nutrient, and water cycling, species interactions, and how they contribute to ecosystem functioning. This will be done by both experimental and observational studies for four focal species: Calluna vulgaris, Vaccinium myrtillus, Vaccinium vitis idea, and Empetrum nigrum, covering a broad climatic gradient in Norway. Field-sites are set in Kautokeino, Senja, Lygra, and Sognal, and we have both forested and open plots for all localities. The goal is to provide a worked example of an integrated climate response-feedback research workflow, divided into several secondary objectives, such as physiology and functional biology, species interactions, and ecosystem functioning, and climate feedback.
Thesis proposal
This MSc will be conducted as part of the DURIN project, where the MSc student will have responsibility for conducting research on the effects of short-term nitrogen depositions on carbon cycling and belowground ericoid fungi. The successful candidate will work with litter bags from plots that have been subjected to different nitrogen treatments. One of the main practical tasks is extracting fungal DNA from litter bags, in order to find out which fungi are involved in belowground degradation processes. The candidate will receive training in all steps of the labwork process and bioinformatics pipeline related to fungal metabarcoding. The thesis will explore how different levels of nitrogen affects species compositions and degradation rates of ericoid mycorrhizal fungi and other saprotrophic fungi.
You will be part of two dynamic research teams (Between the Fjords and Oslo Mycology Group), gather experience in both ecology and mycology, and learn metabarcoding, a cutting-edge molecular identification technique.
Research questions
- Can key fungal species be linked to fast/slow degradation in soil? If that is the case, one aspect will be identifying those indicator fungi.
- Will increased nitrogen deposition increase/decrease fungal richness, and can this be correlated to different decomposition rates in the soil?
Tasks
- Labwork related to metabarcoding: DNA extractions of litter bags, PCR, and library preparations.
- Bioinformatics pipeline: preparing and cleaning raw sequences and assigning taxonomy to operational taxonomic units (OTUs).
- Statistical analyses using R.
- Share your results: write a thesis which can be published as a scientific paper.
Candidate requirement
- Bachelor degree in biology/ecology.
- An interest in mycology.
- Labexperience from previous projects or courses is preferential, but not a must.
- Statistical and data management skills.
- Willingness to be involved in mycological journal clubs and discussions with other research groups in Norway.
Practical information
- The project will be funded through research grants.
- Start: September 2025.
- Place of work: Bergen.
- There will be a close collaboration with the Oslo Mycology Group at the University of Oslo.
- Supervisors: Mika H. Kirkhus, Håvard Kauserud, and Vigdis Vandvik.
- The successful candidate will be encouraged to attend smaller courses/conferences related to metabarcoding and mycology.