Recently my scholarly activities have focused on undergraduate education. As a faculty member with a joint appointment with Botany-Microbiology and Zoology, my job has a higher teaching component than most. I teach OU's non-majors general education course in biology (Concepts in Biology, BOT/MBIO/ZOO 1005) each semester. I also teach courses in general mycology, introductory (non-majors) microbiology, and a capstone course in zoology at least every two years. I am a co-author on a general biology (mixed-majors) textbook called Life and have recently begun work on a nonmajors version of that book.
Most summers I travel, attend meetings, write, and spend time in the laboratory. For many years I have been interested in interactions between soil microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) and plant roots. Because of their varied capabilities, mycorrhizal fungi and other soil microorganisms potentially represent a vastly underutilized resource in agriculture (e.g. nutrient uptake and protection against plant pathogens) and, for example, in cleanup of contaminated soils. I have had three undergraduate microbiology students complete their honors theses under my supervision. One student studied the microbial diversity of fertilizer-amended soils taken from experimental plots established by Dr. Val Smith near Lawrence, Kansas. Another student examined the aquatic fungi that colonized various types of trash she placed in a pond. The third student studied the response of mycorrhizal fungi to experimental warming in the prairie plots established near OU by Dr. Yiqi Luo and Dr. Linda Wallace. I have also served on several honors thesis committees.
Selected publications:
For more information about this program, contact the Department or Dr. Mariëlle Hoefnagels.