Dr Louis Mielke

As mycologist specialized in ecology, global change and conservation, I'm interested in the coevality of carbon sequestration and biodiversity in the context of a changing climate. I graduated with a BSc in Environmental Science from the University of Minnesota with a focus in Soil Biogeochemstry and Fungal Ecology while working on ecological field and lab projects in Yosemite National Park, northern Minnesota, and Patagonia, and completed a PhD in 2022 in the Dept. of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences on mycorrhizal guild functions and conservation values in boreal forests.

At Stirling, I am working on the MYCONET project, which aims to understand how the highly organic soils of the Scottish highlands and Swedish subarctic will respond to increased abundance of trees and woody shrubs by examining processes in the ‘mycorrhizosphere’ in situ and in vitro, that determine the carbon balance of these globally important soil carbon stores. The project is in cooperation with the University of Edinburgh, The James Hutton Institute and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Fungi, Mycorrhizas, Soil Biology, Conservation Biology, Ecosystem Ecology