Research Themes

Recognition, stability, and emergence are some of the most fascinating features within any community. How organisms interact, how environmental variation and functional plasticity shape interactions, individuals, and communities, how inter-domain symbioses shape organismal responses - these each exert significant influences on the strength, direction, and evolution of community members. The mechanisms that drive the trajectories of cross-domain interactions among bacteria, mycorrhizal fungi, and host plants, however, are still emerging. The Berrios Lab aims to understand these mechanisms, with an emphasis on understanding the envirnomental controls on mycorrhizal spore germination, the initiation of fungal colonization, symbiosis maintenance, community assembly, and genetic regulation. We use a variety of field, lab, molecular, and computational approaches to strengthen field-lab connections and develop model systems for complex assembly processes.