Tom Horton

  • Office phone: 315-470-6794
  • Fax: 315-470-6934
  • trhorton@esf.edu
  • Office: 350 Illick Hall
  • Lab: 447 Illick Hall
 

 

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Research interests

My research is focused on ectomycorrhizal fungi and their influences on plant community dynamics. It is amazing to me that 1) most textbooks barely mention mycorrhizal symbioses and 2), we still see so many publications looking at seedling establishment that completely ignore mycorrhizal fungi. Indeed, many ecologists still consider mutualisms a sort of special case phenomenon (acacia ants, orchid moths). Part of this bias comes from the fact that models of mutualisms predict that they are unstable and therefore should not be common. But three examples of very stable mutualisms should put that misunderstanding to rest: chloroplasts in plant cells, mitochondria in eukaryotic cells, and of course lichens. Because around 80-90% of all plants associate with mycorrhizal fungi that are typically mutualistic, mycorrhizal mutualisms are a fourth case demonstrating the commonality of mutualisms in nature. Is the mycorrhizal symbiosis stable? Mycorrhizal fungi have been associated with plants for over 400 million years, coinciding with the first colonization of land by plants. The fact that mycorrhizal fungi are primarily below ground, cryptic and essentially considered microbial, plant ecologists have largely black-boxed their role in plant communities. A second focus of mine is the development and use of PCR-based techniques to identify fungi directly from mycorrhizal root tips and soil hyphae, which have allowed us to peek into the black-box (see Horton and Bruns, 2001). Being a mycorrhizal ecologist that uses molecular techniques keeps me engaged in mycology, plant ecology and molecular ecology. Aspects of my and the work of my students fall into those fields, but also conservation biology, restoration ecology, biology of invasive species (a mycorrhizal connection in plant invasions?), and ecosystem dynamics (Does N or P move from soil pools directly to plant roots? No, typically mycorrhizal fungi access the nutrient pools and translocate them to the plant roots!).

Teaching:

  • EFB 320, General Ecology. Fall

    • Students and Visiting Scholars

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    Visiting Scholars

    Jed Cappellazzi (Lab tech/former Honors Student) Anna Conrad (REU) Jessie Spitzer (N dynamics) Melanie Antonik Dan Clune Tina Bell Australia
    Tera Galante Allison Oakes Amie Whitlock (orchids) Sara Ashkannejhad Ariel Cowan Michael Booth Yale
    Mike Hough (Co-advised with Greg McGee) Tanya Rommel   Chris Hazard Erik Facteau Stephen DeLuc Michigan State University
    Mike O'Brien Eva Sztechmiler Kris Dulmer Dave Gonnella Kirsten Føns Denmark
    Erin Page (Co-advised with Rick Smardon)     Karen Gentile Kali Lader

    Madeleine Osborn Australia
          Marie Terlizzi Katie Lawson (REU) Maria Moskalenko New York
            Gwen Lennox Andy Ouimette University of New Hampshire
            Lindsay Miller Dave VanEarden New York
            Dave Muska  
            Alex Newman  
            Andrea Reinhardt  
            Angela Wright  

     

    Publications
    Images on this webpage taken by Dave Pilz, Annette Kretzer, or Tom Horton.
    General design by Tim Szaro.