Carina Berlingeri, Graduate Student

As a PhD Student in the Taylor Lab, I am engaged in several projects studying how different global change drivers (nutrient pollution, disturbance, and rising CO₂) alter belowground symbioses and plant resource-acquisition strategies. For my undergraduate research thesis, I explored the effects of nitrogen and phosphorus limitation (via nutrient additions) on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in sugar maple seedlings to investigate nutrient limitation in temperate forests. I broadened my ecosystem ecology skills from the temperate to tropical forests during my time at El Verde field station in El Yunque National Forest. I worked on the Canopy Trimming Experiment that aimed to describe how tropical ecosystems change due to increases in hurricane frequency and severity. Moving forward, I want to explore questions that will gain insight on how below-ground dynamics will influence ecosystem responses and processes in the face of global environmental change.