Dr Brian Pickles
Lecturer in Ecology
School of Biological Sciences
University of Reading
United Kingdom
Biography
Dr. Brian Pickles is currently working as a Lecturer in Ecology in the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Reading , United Kingdom. Major Responsibilities: • Lecturer in Ecology • Co-supervision of Postgraduate Students at the University of British Columbia Research: Assisted migration; Plant-fungal symbioses; Spatial ecology • Exploring the responses of mycorrhizal symbioses to global change impacts • Spatial and temporal dynamics in host-symbiont communities and populations • Forecasting changes in species and ecosystem distributions • Examining host-symbiont interactions and nutrient dynamics in forest ecosystems • Integrating soil ecology and ecological theory into forest management practices Member of the Ecology Research Group Impact, Enterprise and Outreach: • Importance of edaphic factors, especially mutualistic soil biota, to the regeneration success of planted conifers • Development of seed transfer functions based on soils in addition to climate • Research on 'Skill-based Optimised Aiming in Darts' featured in UK newspapers, TV interviews and popular science show for the Discovery Channel
Research Interest
• Exploring the responses of mycorrhizal symbioses to global change impacts • Spatial and temporal dynamics in host-symbiont communities and populations • Forecasting changes in species and ecosystem distributions • Examining host-symbiont interactions and nutrient dynamics in forest ecosystems • Integrating soil ecology and ecological theory into forest management practices
Publications
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Gorzelak, M. A., Pickles, B. J. and Hart, M. M. (2017) Exploring the symbiont diversity of ancient western redcedars: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi of long-lived hosts. Molecular Ecology, 26 (6). pp. 1586-1597. ISSN 0962-1083 doi: 10.1111/mec.14023
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Pickles, B. J., Wilhelm, R., Asay, A. K., Hahn, A. S., Simard, S. W. and Mohn, W. W. (2017) Transfer of 13C between paired Douglas-fir seedlings reveals plant kinship effects and uptake of exudates by ectomycorrhizas. New Phytologist, 214 (1). pp. 400-411. ISSN 1469-8137 doi: 10.1111/nph.14325
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Pither, J. and Pickles, B. J. (2017) The paleosymbiosis hypothesis: host plants can be colonized by root symbionts that have been inactive for centuries to millenia. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 93 (6). fix061. ISSN 1574-6941 doi: 10.1093/femsec/fix061
