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We have funding for graduate and undergraduate students
Sarah McCarthy-Neumann, Ph.D.
Principle Investigator
Principle Investigator
I am a forest ecologist whose greenhouse- and field-based research focuses on plant–soil feedbacks as mechanisms shaping community composition, structure, regeneration, and productivity in temperate and tropical forests. In particular, I investigate feedbacks between plants and soil communities, including damping-off pathogens, mycorrhizal fungi, and abiotic-mediated feedbacks, and how these interactions influence tree species diversity, exotic plant invasions, and climate-driven shifts in species ranges. My currently funded projects extend this work by examining plant–soil feedbacks, mycorrhizal associations, fire, and forest regeneration failure in upland Appalachian forests, with a particular emphasis on oak regeneration and forest management applications. I also investigate how abiotic factors, including climate, light, soil fertility, and moisture, alter the occurrence or strength of these feedbacks. Across my research, I use a mechanistic approach to identify the processes underlying community-level patterns.
CURRENT MEMBERS
Maria (Izzy) Schutte
Ph.D. Student
Ph.D. Student
Izzy is a graduate student at Tennessee State University in the Environmental Sciences program and is advised by Dr. Sarah McCarthy-Neumann. She is a PhD student studying forest ecology. Her research focuses on plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs), how those cause patterns of conspecific density-dependance, and implications for species composition and structure in the forests of eastern North America. Although this line of research primarily focuses on arbuscular mycorrhiza and ectomycorrhiza as drivers of PSFs, I am incorporating ericoid mycorrhiza and dark septate endophytes too. Previously, I worked as a field and lab technician on projects relating to invasive shrubs, eutrophication, and adaptive management in forests.
Rob Phillips
M.S. Student
M.S. Student
Rob is a master's student interested in long-term forest dynamics, neighborhood interactions, and the role of mycorrhizal fungi in shaping forest communities. His research project focuses on how living and legacy tree neighborhoods influence forest demography over time and how these influences are mediated by symbioses with mycorrhizal fungi, using nearly 50 years of data from long-term forest plots on the Cumberland Plateau. He has been involved with this research project on the Cumberland Plateau since his undergraduate studies at Sewanee: The University of the South, where he spent two summers as part of the field crew collecting data in the long-term forest plots that now form the foundation of his master's project.
FORMER MEMBERS
Katherine Wood, Ph.D. Student, Graduated 2023.
Jack Wilkerson, M.S. Student, 2023-2024.
Maria (Izzy) Schutte, M.S. Student, 2022-2025.
Jack Wilkerson, M.S. Student, 2023-2024.
Maria (Izzy) Schutte, M.S. Student, 2022-2025.