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Megan Saunders

Postdoctoral Fellow, Environmental Studies and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Jointly advised by Ingrid M. Parker
Megan Saunders   Exploring the evolutionary ecology of fungal endophytes: using functional traits to reveal mechanisms in community processes

One of my main research interests is the functional and evolutionary ecology of symbioses, with a focus on the interaction between plants and their fungal endophytes - species that spend at least part of their life cycle residing in plant tissue.  Most plant individuals harbor a community of non-mycorrhizal endophyte species, however, little is known about the ecological dynamics of these communities or their influence on plant health.  My work aims to address two questions: i. what are the abiotic and biotic factors that mediate endophyte community assembly, and ii. what do the mechanisms that drive endophyte community processes and plant-endophyte relationships tell us about the evolution of plants and their associated fungal species?  To answer these questions I employ a range of techniques including laboratory and field experiments, chemical ecology, molecular ecology, evolutionary biology, natural history and statistics.  more research interests...
Email: msaunde1 <at> ucsc.edu      Office: 475 ISB
Snail-mail: Megan Saunders, Environmental Studies, 1156 High St., University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA		  

 

Full CV

  


Abbreviated Curriculum Vitae

Megan Saunders

Education
University of Toronto(Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 2009 (with LM Kohn)
The Evergreen State College (B.S. in Ecology, 2001)

Honors, Awards, and Grants
2009 National Science Foundation: Ecological Biology Cluster. Rare-species advantage: consequences of
   phylogenetic and numerical rarity of hosts for disease pressure and pathogen communities. GS Gilbert (Co-PI),
   IM Parker (Co-PI) and M Saunders (Postdoctoral researcher). DEB- 0842059.
2009 Mycological Society of America Graduate Student Fellowship Award
2008 E.L. Rice Most Outstanding Student Paper Award, 5th International Allelopathy Congress, Saratoga Springs, NY
2007 Lillian Elfeda Darker “Excellence in Mycology” Award

Select Recent Publications
2009 Saunders M and LM Kohn. Evidence for alteration of fungal endophyte community assembly by host defense compounds. New Phytologist. 182: 229-238.

2008 Saunders M and LM Kohn. Host-synthesized secondary compounds influence the in vitro interactions between fungal endophytes of maize. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 74(1): 136-142.

In press Saunders M, Glenn AE and LM Kohn. 2010. Exploring the evolutionary ecology of fungal endophyte communities in agricultural systems: Using functional traits to reveal mechanisms in community processes. Evolutionary Applications - Invited
In review Saunders M, Glenn AE and LM Kohn. Production of defense compounds by plant neighbors decreases fungal endophyte abundance and diversity in maize roots.

In review Saunders M, Glenn AE, Snook M, Mitchell T and LM Kohn. Host defense compounds and the seed endophyte,   Fusarium verticillioides, as filters in fungal endophyte community assembly.

In preparation Saunders M, Abbas HK and LM Kohn. Influence of benzoxazinoid production on accumulation of Fusarium mycotoxins in maize.



Select professional experience
2001-2003, Curatorial Associate of Cryptogamic Herbarium, Duke Univ., Biology, F Lutzoni and KM Pryer

2001-2002, Research Assistant, Duke Univ., Biology, D Armaleo

Select teaching experience
Ecology, Teaching Assistant, Univ. of Toronto (2007)
Mycology, Guest Lecturer and Teaching Assistant, Univ. of Toronto (2005-06)
Diversity of Organisms, Teaching Assistant, Univ. of Toronto (2005-08)
Introduction to Evolution and Evolutionary Genetics, Teaching Assistant, Univ. of Toronto (2003-04)
   

 

 
Expanded Research Interests.
Community ecology Chemical ecology Evolutionary ecology of species interactions Plant-microbe interactions