Protocols

Microscopic assessment of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonization and other fungal colonization of plant roots using crosshair intercept method and grid line-intercept method for soil fungi.

Systematic monitoring of plant disease dynamics across elevation gradient to capture environmental variation effects. Involves establishment of standardized transects with complete plant population ma...

Surface sterilization of plant tissues followed by DNA extraction and high-throughput sequencing of the ITS region to characterize fungal endophyte communities. Community composition and diversity met...

29-year experimental warming using overhead infrared radiators to increase soil temperature by 2°C in subalpine grassland plots. Heat flux of 22 W/m² applied continuously from 1991-2019.

Collection of soil inocula from resident (high elevation) and novel (low elevation) sites across elevation gradients in mountain ecosystems, with subsequent sterilization treatments to isolate microbi...

Hierarchical Bayesian models predicting vital rates from individual and neighborhood characteristics, with population-level random effects and model selection via WAIC.

Factorial greenhouse experiment testing effects of soil inoculum source and sterilization on alpine grass growth, traits, and fungal colonization. Plants grown in standardized sand-inoculum mixtures w...

A controlled field experiment transplanting grass species across elevational gradients with manipulated fungal soil communities to test effects of plant-fungi mismatches on plant performance during cl...

Field experiment testing seed germination of different genotypes/treatments in natural microhabitats of related species to assess niche requirements and differentiation.

Seeds were treated with Benomyl fungicide at 4°C to remove endophytic fungi, creating endophyte-free plants for comparison with naturally endophyte-positive and endophyte-negative plants.

Systematic sampling of lichen cover and species composition along fixed 1-meter transects on rock surfaces, with digital photography and image analysis for precise measurement of lichen thallus length...

Factorial experiment using wire mesh and chicken wire fencing to exclude mammalian herbivores (ungulates and gophers) from transplanted alpine plants across elevational gradients. Plants monitored for...

Mixed-bed ion-exchange resin bags deployed at 5 cm soil depth to assess NO3-N and NH4-N availability. Resins are extracted with KCl and analyzed using flow injection autoanalyzer.

Field identification of lichen species using chemical spot tests with potassium hydroxide, morphological examination with hand lens, and comparison to field guide keys.

Repeated measurements of plant morphological traits (tillers, leaves, height) and survival tracking to assess fitness responses to experimental treatments.

Extraction of plant metabolites using methanol/acetonitrile/water solvent followed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. Characterizes plant metabolomic profiles for correlation with fu...

Systematic survey of pocket gopher soil disturbances (eskers, mounds) along standardized transects using rolatape measuring wheels with perpendicular PVC pipe to standardize observation width. Each di...