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Louis Mielke
As an ecologist and conservation biologist, I am interested in the coevality of carbon sequestration and biodiversity. My focus is on fungi because they are elusive, yet ubiquitous and functionally diverse. I specifically focus on mycorrhizal fungi because of their importance at the plant-soil interface. Ectomycorrhizal fungi are particularly of interest since they are a conduit for carbon allocation belowground from host trees, and many species are considered species of conservation concern largely due to clear cutting of forest ecosystems.
Teaching
"Soil Biology and Biogeochemistry" - Second cycle course (MSc.) - teaching assistant for molecular methods and literature project supervisor, 2019-Present
Research
Mechanistic understanding of the mycorrhizal fungal carbon sink of northern terrestrial ecosystems" testing the Gadgil and mycorrhizal trait hypotheses (VR).
Mycorrhizal fungi are a particularly interesting group in the context of forest management and climate change because they depend on recent photosynthates from plant hosts in exchange for water and other nutrients, and rapidly accumulate and release that carbon. This makes them integral part of soil organic matter accumulatiuon and degradation. I will be testing how the interactions of different organism groups (e.g. ectomycorrhizal fungal pine roots, ericaceous shrubs and saprotrophs) influence decomposition and soil respiration dynamics in a mature pine forest.
Are current methods for evaluating forest conservational values, accurate, objective and cost-efficient? (FORMAS)
My focus on this project is to compare traditional aboveground conservation values in swedish forests with the number of ectomycorrhizal fungal species via soil DNA metabarcoding techniques. This will help inform forest companies, field consultants and the swedish government to make decisions on which forests to keep or cut, and really answer whether the methods currently used to assess conservation values are good indicators of ectomycorrhizal fungal diversity.
Cooperation
I am a PhD representative for the Focus on Soils and Water Research School, FOMAN and a department representative for the NJ-Faculty PhD Council.
Background
2018-Present: PhD Student in Soil Microbiology Group, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden
2012-2016: BSc. in Environmental Science, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Supervision
Dr. Karina Clemmensen - Dept. of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, SLU - Uppsala
Dr. Björn Lindahl - Dept. of Soil and Environment, SLU - Uppsala
Dr. Joachim Strengbom - Dept. of Ecology, SLU - Uppsala
Dr. Petra Fransson - Dept. of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, SLU - Uppsala
Selected publications
Mielke, L. A., (2022) Mycorrhizal guild functions and conservation values in boreal forests. Doctoral thesis. Uppsala, Sweden.
Mielke, L. A., Ekblad, A., Finlay, R. D., Fransson, P., Lindahl, B. D., Clemmensen, K. E. (2022) Ericaceous dwarf shrubs contribute a significant but drought-sensitive fraction of soil respiration in a boreal pine forest. Journal of Ecology.
Links
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/119369