Insu Koh, Leif Richardson, and Laura Sonter: All Creatures Great and Small?

Leif will discuss the effects of below ground mycorrhizal mutualisms on crop pollination by wild bees. - Crop production depends on the ecosystem service of pollination. Bee pollinators are attracted to flowers by presence of nectar and pollen, but availability of such floral rewards could be affected by plant associations with other organisms. Using highbush blueberry, he will show that mutualistic mycorrhizal fungi inhabiting plant roots alter floral traits in ways that increase pollinator visitation, potentially resulting in increased crop yield.

Insu is a post-doctoral research associate in Taylor Ricketts?s lab at UVM. Insu is broadly interested in how landscape structure and composition influence biodiversity, organism dispersal and ecosystem services. He received his Ph.D. in environmental/city planning from the Graduate School of Environmental Studies at Seoul National University and previously conducted post-doctoral research at Purdue University.