Learn more about the recipients of Arboretum Research Fellowships.
2025 Research Fellows
Arboretum Leopold Fellowship Award (two years)
Aishwarya Veerabahu
Department of Botany
Advisors: Anne Pringle and Michelle Jusino
The Midas mushroom: Ecological and social dimensions of the invasive golden oyster mushroom
The golden oyster mushroom (GOM; Pleurotus citrinopileatus) is an invasive, edible wood decay fungus native to eastern Asia that is rapidly spreading in North America. GOM was introduced to the United States multiple times when commercial strains of GOM escaped cultivation from popularized DIY mushroom grow-kits. In its invaded range, GOM fruits prolifically from April to November and is highly concentrated in forested areas of southern Wisconsin. We have found that GOM-colonized deadwood has significantly lower native fungal richness and significantly different fungal community compositions compared to uncolonized wood, suggesting that GOM likely outcompetes native wood decay fungi. The crucial community of wood decay fungi that live within deadwood influence the rate of wood decay and the resulting carbon emissions. If GOM is outcompeting native fungal decay communities, it could be impacting native decay regimes and carbon cycling with serious implications for climate change. Using three existing sites in the UW–Madison Arboretum, this study aims to document GOM’s impact on decay and carbon emissions and the genetic differences between invasive and native strains of GOM. GOM is also highly noticeable and increasingly recognized by the public as invasive. Therefore, I propose an interdisciplinary study, leveraging the Arboretum’s community relationships to conduct interviews with relevant stakeholders to learn their perspectives about GOM and begin the public-academic conversation about managing invasive fungi.
Aishwarya began a PhD in botany at UW–Madison in 2022. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of California, Riverside, in 2018.
“Learning and sharing about fungal biodiversity unite my purpose, curiosities, and my Radiolab-esque goal to inspire stewardship by telling stories of my weird and incredible fungal friends.”
Research Fellowship Awards (one year)
Linden Taylor
Department of Botany
Advisor: Ken Keefover-Ring
The role of environmental heterogeneity in maintaining chemical diversity in prairie populations of wild bergamot
Linden Taylor will investigate the chemical ecology of wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), a perennial herb native to North America. This species exhibits exceptional within-species chemical diversity with six distinct chemical phenotypes, called chemotypes, each associated with a dominant compound in plant extracts. Using surveys of Wisconsin prairie populations, this study will provide insight on whether heterogeneity in soil resources has a role in the distribution and maintenance of chemical diversity in native prairie plants.
“Chemical ecology . . . bridges disciplines, combining field and laboratory studies to address fundamental ecological questions while informing conservation and restoration efforts. . . . I believe that combining basic research with public education can help bring communities together to understand and protect the natural world.”
Aundrea Taylor
Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology
Advisor: Nicholas Balster
Plant-soil feedback loops: Does foraging by deer homogenize the above- and belowground environments of hardwood stands at the UW–Madison Arboretum’s Lost City Forest?
Aundrea Taylor will study the above- and belowground effects of foraging by deer. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are considered ecosystem engineers because of their prolific reproduction rate and foraging activities. However, excessive deer pressure is re-shaping southern Wisconsin’s forests because of their preferential browsing and high population densities. This study explores how deer herbivory impacts forest floor vegetation and the response of soil physiochemical properties in the Lost City Forest at the UW Arboretum. Taylor’s findings will enhance our understanding of deer-vegetation-soil interactions and aim to help forest management strategies.
“The collaboration with Arboretum researchers would allow me to connect the southern hardwood stands at the Lost City Forest to vegetation diversity, deer density, and soil physiochemical properties. . . . My findings will contribute to UW–Madison Arboretum’s mission to restore Wisconsin’s native landscapes and [may] aid land managers on the effects of deer density and plant-soil relations.”
Mengmeng Luo
Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences
Advisor: Thea Whitman
Vertical distribution dynamics of pyrogenic carbon one-year post-fire
Mengmeng Luo will investigate the distribution of pyrogenic (fire-affected) carbon following prescribed fire. Prescribed fire is a useful tool for ecological restoration, maintaining biodiversity, and managing soil health and carbon sequestration in fire-adapted ecosystems. There is limited understanding of pyrogenic carbon’s vertical distribution and movement in soils post-fire, especially in ecosystems with low-intensity, high-frequency fire regimes like tallgrass prairies in Wisconsin. This research will investigate the vertical dynamics of pyrogenic carbon and evaluate how fire intensity and seasonal changes (like freeze-thaw cycles) influence pyrogenic carbon dynamics. Luo’s findings will contribute to carbon sequestration research, improve modeling, and inform land management strategies.
“I have developed a strong foundation in soil and fire sciences, with a particular interest in their intersection. I aim to advance our collective understanding of fire’s ecological role while supporting the Arboretum’s vision of fostering resilient ecosystems and conserving the unique and invaluable habitats for native species.”
Past Fellows
2024
Arboretum Leopold Fellowship Award (two years)
Aishwarya Veerabahu, Department of Botany (advisors: Anne Pringle and Michelle Jusino)
The Midas mushroom: Ecological and social dimensions of the invasive golden oyster mushroom
Research Fellowships (one year)
Francisco Campos Arguedas, Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences (advisor: Al Kovaleski)
Supercool winter physiology: At what temperature do trees chill?
Mia Keady, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies (advisors: Randy Jackson and Thea Whitman)
Are prairies our only hope for accumulating soil carbon in the upper Midwest?
Meg Wilson, Department of Art History (advisor: Daniel Spaulding)
Mapping walnut tree relations at the Arboretum border
2023
Arboretum Leopold Fellowship (two years)
Mia Keady, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies (advisors: Randy Jackson and Thea Whitman)
Roots, litter, deep soil, and microbes – investigating the paradigm shift of soil organic matter persistence
Research Fellowships (one year)
Sam Anderson, Department of Biology (advisor: Kate McCulloh)
A physiological perspective: Utilizing stress-tolerance traits of Wisconsin woody species to reassess historical analyses and inform future land management
Mark Fuka, Department of Integrative Biology (advisor: John Orrock)
Examining the efficacy of a natural taste deterrent on Quercus rubra acorns and saplings to reduce granivory and herbivory to promote oak recruitment in the presence and absence of invasive shrubs
Michelle Homann, Department of Integrative Biology (advisor: Ellen Damschen)
The role of climate and priority effects in tallgrass prairie community assembly
Aishwarya Veerabahu, Department of Botany (advisors: Anne Pringle and Michelle Jusino)
A golden opportunity to study the impacts of an invasive wood decay fungus
2022
Arboretum Leopold Fellowship (two years)
Mia Keady, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies (advisors: Randy Jackson and Thea Whitman)
Roots, litter, deep soil, and microbes – investigating the paradigm shift of soil organic matter persistence
Research Fellowships (one year)
Benjamin Douglas, Department of Psychology (advisor: Markus Brauer)
Behavioral Tests of Social Norms Messaging in Environmental Education
Adrianna Gorsky, Department of Integrative Biology, Center for Limnology (advisors: Emily Stanley and Hilary Dugan)
Overlooked and understudied: Urban and eutrophic ponds as greenhouse gas hotspots
Michelle Homann, Department of Integrative Biology (advisor: Ellen Damschen)
The role of climate and priority effects in tallgrass prairie community assembly
2021
Research Fellowships (one year)
Roberto Carrera-Martínez, Department of Integrative Biology (advisor: Sean Schoville)
Exploring the distribution of invasive earthworms and exotic plants and indirect interactions: Indications of invasional meltdown or disturbance-mediated establishment?
Mary-Claire Glasenhardt, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies (advisor: Paul Zedler)
Community dynamics of an 86-year-old tallgrass prairie restoration: Curtis Prairie’s current conditions, temporal change, and land management
Dana Johnson, Department of Soil Science (advisor: Thea Whitman)
Impact of non-native Amynthas spp. on soil structure, fungal biomass, and fungal diversity in forest soils
2020
Arboretum Leopold Fellowship (two years)
Katherine Charton, Department of Integrative Biology (advisor: Ellen Damschen)
Effects of management and precipitation on woody encroachment in tallgrass prairie
Research Fellowships (one year)
Erin Crone, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology (advisor: Daniel Preston)
Ecology of urban herpetofauna in Madison, Wisconsin
Anna Skye Harnsberger, Department of Entomology (advisors: Karen Oberhauser and Claudio Gratton)
Effects of local and landscape characteristics on native prairie butterfly communities
Nick Hoffman, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies (advisor: Sara Hotchkiss)
Stormwater history: A fifty-year reconstruction of the runoff-mediated disturbance load to Curtis Pond and Curtis Prairie
Carson Keller, Department of Zoology (advisor: John Orrock)
Do invasive species modify small mammal trophic interactions and generate predictable behavioral changes?
2019
Research Fellowships (one year)
Jared Beck, Department of Botany (advisor: Don Waller)
Contagious trees? Characterizing spatial patterns and ecological factors influencing the local distribution of trees in southern Wisconsin
Erin Crone, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology (advisor: Daniel Preston)
Interactions between non-native earthworms and native amphibians in the UW–Madison Arboretum
Rachel Jordan, Department of Botany (advisor: Kate McCulloh)
How will Wisconsin’s native conifers respond to winter warming?
Theresa Vander Woude, Department of Life Sciences Communication and Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies (advisor: Bret Shaw)
Opinion leaders: Activating the Arboretum’s “Neighborshed”
Science Communications Fellowship (one year)
Liz Anna Kozik, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies (advisor: Caroline Gottschalk-Druschke)
Public Engagement Focused on Restoration Ecology