Dr. A. Elizabeth Arnold
Division of Plant Pathology and Microbiology
Assistant Professor &
Curator, Gilbertson Mycological Herbarium

Herring Hall
Phone: 520-621-7212
Email: arnold@ag.arizona.edu
 

Visit these web-sites to learn more about Dr. Arnold and her research

 

   
Background and Interests
 
I'm an evolutionary ecologist broadly interested in the evolution of plant-fungal symbioses. I use classic microbiological methods, ecological sampling techniques, molecular tools, and the robust framework of phylogenetic biology to understand fungal biodiversity, the ecological roles and evolutionary importance of cryptic microfungi, and the evolution of symbiotic lifestyles across the fungal tree of life. I am especially interested in tropical mycology, with a focus on fungal endophytes of tropical trees.

Fungal endophytes - fungi that inhabit plant tissues without causing disease - are ubiquitous in leaves of plants, but their ecological roles are largely unexplored. In the context of an interdisciplinary research program focusing on diverse elements of endophyte ecology, evolution, and systematics, my current projects include (1) assessing the roles of endophytes in influencing the chemistry, nutritive value, and development of leaves, thereby shaping patterns of herbivory by folivorous insects; (2) determining the degree to which tropical plants host entomopathogenic fungi as endophytes, and examining such associations in the context of cryptic plant defenses; (3) large scale assessments of microfungal biodiversity in altered landscapes, and the fungal communities of introduced (both desirable and invasive) plants; (4) examination of broad-scale coevolution between microfungi and photosynthetic organisms; and (5) collaborative projects assessing the ecological roles of endophytic fungi in lichens (endolichenic fungi). Work in my lab also centers on a variety of systematics-oriented projects that lend themselves well to the study of insect, plant, and fungal interactions.
 
Publications
 

Rojas EI, Herre EA, Mejía LC, Arnold AE, Chaverri P, Samuels GJ. Dec 2008. Endomelanconiopsis, a new anamorph genus in the Botryosphaeriaceae. Mycologia, 100:760-75

Horton TR, Arnold AE, Bruns TD. Nov 2008. FESIN workshops at ESA-the mycelial network grows. Mycorrhiza,2008 Nov 11;

Feldman TS, O'Brien HO, Arnold AE. May 2008. Moths that Vector a Plant Pathogen also Transport Endophytic Fungi and Mycoparasitic Antagonists. Microb Ecol,2008 May 20;

Hoffman M, Arnold AE. Mar 2008. Geographic locality and host identity shape fungal endophyte communities in cupressaceous trees. Mycol Res, 112:331-44

Kithsiri Wijeratne EM, Paranagama PA, Marron MT, Gunatilaka M, Arnold AE, Gunatilaka AAL. Feb 2008. Sesquiterpene quinones and related metabolites from Phyllosticta spinarum, a fungal strain endophytic in Platycladus orientalis of the Sonoran Desert. J Nat Prod, 71:218-22

Bruns T, Arnold AE, Hughes KT. Jan 2008. Fungal networks made of humans: UNITE, FESIN, and frontiers in fungal ecology. New Phytol, 177:586-8

Arnold AE, Henk DA, Eells RL, Lutzoni F, Vilgalys R. Dec 2007. Diversity and phylogenetic affinities of foliar fungal endophytes in loblolly pine inferred by culturing and environmental PCR. Mycologia, 99:185-206

Paranagama PA, Wijeratne EM, Burns AM, Marron MT, Gunatilaka MK, Arnold AE, Gunatilaka AA. Nov 2007. Heptaketides from Corynespora sp. inhabiting the cavern beard lichen, Usnea cavernosa: first report of metabolites of an endolichenic fungus. J Nat Prod, 70:1700-5

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