Underground microbial communities are fundamental to life on Earth. Quietly below the forest floor, these microbial communities act as ecosystem engineers, controlling nutrient availability and carbon storage in forests. What is more, plants are never found in nature without their microbiomes and these communities can play critical roles in plant physiology and function. Just as human microbiomes have revolutionized our understanding of human health, forest microbiomes represent a critical axis of forest health, especially in a changing climate. In this talk, Dr. Claire Willing will highlight some of her research investigating how these cryptic forest microbiomes are impacted by global change and what shifts in forest microbiome communities could mean for forests in a changing climate.

Dr. Claire Willing’s research is broadly focused on forest microbiomes and climate change. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biology at Stanford University. Previously, she completed her Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. Her research seeks to understand how global change influences patterns of microbial community composition in forests and the functional consequences for forest health. Using interdisciplinary approaches, including molecular tools, ecological theory, and techniques in plant ecophysiology and stable isotope ecology, the goal of Claire’s research program is to elucidate the importance of microbial communities in the resistance and resilience of forested ecosystems to global change.