Bauer Lab @ Miami University

Welcome to the Bauer lab!  Members of the lab are part of the Biology Department and/or the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability at Miami University in Oxford, OH.

We study plant ecology, and we are especially interested in questions with relevance to restoration ecology and sustainable agriculture.  A primary focus in the lab is interactions between plants and soil microorganisms, including mycorrhizal fungi and rhizobia.  We are also working on projects measuring the resilience of plant communities to environmental change, plant – pollinator interactions in restored prairies, and forecasting the outcomes of ecological restoration efforts.

Jonathan Bauer

I am an assistant professor in the Biology Department and the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability at Miami University.

CV  Google Scholar

Follow @jonathantbauer

 

Sidney Noble

Sidney is working at the Indiana Dunes, near the site of some of the first ecological research on plant succession, to understand the resilience and restoration potential of plant communities in a changing environment.

Sidney is a M.S. Botany student in the Biology Department.

 

Tristan Barley

Tristan is studying pollination in restored prairies to determine if the fitness of rare plant species may be pollen or pollinator limited.

Tristan is a M.En. student in the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability.

Current Projects:

Predictive Ecology –We are testing the mechanisms that shape the outcomes of ecological restoration, including the effects of management history, soil conditions, and plant × microbial interactions. With this understanding, we are working toward developing models that can forecast the outcomes of ecological restoration and provide insights into the mechanisms that shape plant communities.

Interacting Symbioses – Partnering with beneficial bacteria and fungi can be an essential strategy for plants to acquire nutrients. These partnerships can be affected both by competition among mutualists for the plant’s resources and by changes in the surrounding soil environment.  Since many plant species of conservation concern are reliant on mutualisms with bacteria and fungi, understanding the context dependency of these mutualisms may improve our ability to restore these plants to degraded environments.

Sustainable Agriculture – The productivity of crop plants can be strongly affected by microorganisms. We are beginning new research projects to understand how we can manage soils to promote beneficial microorganisms and limit the negative effects of soil pathogens.

more info @ Google Scholar

Koziol L, PA Schultz, G House, JT Bauer, E Middleton, and JD Bever. 2018. Plant microbiome and native plant restoration: The example of mycorrhizal fungi. Bioscience

 Bach, EM, G Narvaez-Rivera, K Murray, JT Bauer, and KS Hofmockel. 2018. The dynamic life of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal symbionts. Ecology 99:978-979

 Bauer JT, L Koziol and JD Bever. 2018. Ecology of Floristic Quality Analysis: testing for correlations between coefficients of conservatism, species traits, and mycorrhizal responsiveness. AoB Plants 10:plx073

Flory, SF, JT Bauer, RP Phillips, and K Clay. 2017. Effects of a non-native grass decline with succession. Journal of Ecology 105:1475–1484

Whitaker, BW, JT Bauer, K Clay, and JD Bever. 2017. Negative plant-phyllosphere feedbacks in native Asteraceae hosts – a novel extension of the plant-soil feedback framework.  Ecology Letters 20:1064-1073

 Bauer JT, AJ Miller, N Blumenthal, JK Ferguson, and HL Reynolds. 2017. Microbial legacy effects vs. plant-soil feedbacks: Effects on plant community composition and productivity. Journal of Applied Ecology 54:1028:1039

Brudvig, LA, RS Barak, JT Bauer, TT Caughlin, DC Laughlin, L Larios, JW Matthews, KL Stuble, NE Turley, and CR Zirbel. 2017. Interpreting variation to advance predictive restoration science. Journal of Applied Ecology 54:1018-1027

 Bauer, JT and HL Reynolds. 2016. Restoring native understory to a woodland invaded by Euonymus fortunei: multiple factors affect success. Restoration Ecology 24:45-52

 Bauer, JT, KLM Mack, and JD Bever. 2015. Plant-soil feedbacks as drivers of succession: Evidence from remnant and restored tallgrass prairies. Ecosphere 6:158

Lankau, RA, JT Bauer, MR Anderson and RC Anderson. 2014. Long-term legacies and partial recovery of mycorrhizal communities after invasive plant removal. Biological Invasions 16:1979-1990

Shannon, SM, JT Bauer, WE Anderson, HL Reynolds. 2014. Invasive shrubs reduce arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization in Eastern deciduous forest mesocosms. Plant Ecology 382:317-328

Flory, SL and JT Bauer. 2014. Experimental evidence for indirect facilitation among invasive plants. Journal of Ecology 102:12-18

Bauer, JT, NM Kleczewski, JD Bever, K Clay and HL Reynolds. 2012. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and the productivity and structure of prairie grassland communities. Oecologia.170:1089-1098

Bauer, JT, SM Shannon, RE Stoops, and HL Reynolds. 2012. Context dependency of the allelopathic effects of Lonicera maackii on seed germination. Plant Ecology. 213:1907–1916

Bauer, JT 2012. Invasive species: Back-seat drivers of ecosystem change? Biological Invasions. 7:1295-1304

Kleczewski, NM, JT Bauer, K Clay, J Bever and HL Reynolds. 2012. A survey of endophytic fungi of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and their putative roles in plant growth. Fungal Ecology.5:521-529

Herold, J, MR Anderson, JT Bauer, V Borowicz and RC Anderson. 2011. Comparison of the effect of early and late removal of second-year garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) on first-year plants and deciduous forest spring and summer dominant herbaceous groundlayer species in central Illinois, USA. Ecological Restoration. 29:225-233

Bauer, JT, and SL Flory. 2011. Decline in a native species (Senna hebecarpa, Caesalpiniaceae) resulting from an experimental invasion of Microstegium vimineum(Poaceae). American Midland Naturalist. 165:1 105-115

Anderson, RC, MR Anderson, JT Bauer, M Slater, J Herold, P Baumhardt, VA Borowicz. 2010. Effect of Removal of Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolataBrassicaceae) on Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Inoculum Potential in Forest Soils. The Open Ecology Journal. 3:41-47

Bauer, JT, RC Anderson and MR Anderson. 2010. Competitive Interactions among First-Year and Second-Year Plants of the Invasive, Biennial Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) and Native Ground Layer Vegetation. Restoration Ecology. 18:5 720-728

I am currently recruiting students to join the lab!  If you haven’t already, please see our research interests and some of our publications.  I am happy to help students develop research projects that suit their interests, but it is best if those interests are reasonably well aligned with ongoing work in the lab.

Undergraduates – If you are interested in the work we do, please feel free to contact me.  There may be opportunities to get involved in the lab as a paid technician, assisting with the lab’s ongoing research efforts.  I also welcome students interested in completing thesis research projects within the lab.

Graduate Students– I am currently recruiting MS and PhD students in the Biology Department, and there is support through teaching or research assistantships.  I am also happy to work with students on thesis or practicum projects through the M.En. program in the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability.  If you are interested in joining the lab, please contact me with your CV and research interests.

Post Docs –As funding becomes available, I will advertise here, on ecolog, and Twitter.  I would also be happy to work with prospective postdocs on fellowship applications.  Potential sources of funding include the USDA-NIFA fellowships (which supported my postdoc work), NSF postdocs, and the Smith Fellows Program.