Chris Hazard

Chris will finish her MS in the fall of 2006 at SUNY-ESF in the faculty of Environmental and Foresty Biology. Her thesis deals with the ecology of pinedrops (Pterospora andromedea), a rare plant in the state of New York and in the Northeastern U.S. in general. This is a relative of the more common indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora). Both of these plants are achlorophyllous members of Ericaceae and are parasitic on ectomycorrhizal fungi. A great deal of recent research in the west by Martin Bidartondo and Tom Bruns formed the basis of her study in the east.

Chris found that pinedrops are associated with one species of Rhizopogon in the east, probably a new species. The fungus is associated with eastern white pine (Pinus strobus). She also found that the species of fungus is relatively rare in soils of the Northeastern U.S., based on lab soil bioassays using eastern white pine as a green plant host, and in field bioassays using pinedrops seeds in seed packets as bait for the fungi.