Ready to Bloom: USU Ecologist Explores Climate Impacts on Mountain Plant-Microbial Interactions

Mountain wildflowers are an enthusiastically anticipated splash of colorful, natural artistry among the world’s humans, as well as eagerly awaited sustenance for creatures great and small.

“In the spring, as soon as snow melts and there’s bare ground, flowers appear,” says Utah State University ecologist Emily Burgess. “And those blooms signal the arrival of organisms ranging from microbes to pollinators to larger animals – all part of acomplex ecological community.”

Burgess, a doctoral student in USU’s Department of Biology and the Ecology Center, is studying how a changing climate is affecting plant and microbial interactions. She’s among Aggies presentingresearch at the 2024 annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America Aug. 4-9 in Long Beach, California. Burgess presents an oral session Monday, Aug. 5, in the Climate Change: Plants 1 Session from 1:30-3 p.m. PDT in Room 201A of the Long Beach Convention Center.

“We still don’t fully understand how plant and microbe interactions will be altered under climate change,” she says. “Microbes can impact plants’ reproductive outcomes, and how climate change affects this process could have important consequences over time.”

Burgess, whose faculty mentor is Associate Professor Robert Schaeffer, conducts field research in USU’s T.W. Daniel Experimental Forest in Logan Canyon. On the high peaks overlooking Bear Lake, she manipulates the timing of snowmelt and temperature to simulate future climate change scenarios.

“As spring approaches, I spread black tarps over snow-covered field plots to hasten snowmelt,” she says. “I then set up small polycarbonate enclosures – kind of like mini-greenhouses – over those plots.”

As new plants shoot up, Burgess counts individual plants and flowers on each plant.

“Most species respond to the shift in snowmelt timing and temperature,” she says. “To investigate the microbial response, I collect flowers to culture, and identify the microbes living in them. To get a better idea of how microbes are getting to the flowers, I place small bags over flowering plants – to deter pollinators – and collect microbe sample from both bagged and unbagged plants.”

Burgess says the microbes may repel or attract pollinators.

“Pollinators have a preference for varied scents emitted by microbes, as the microbes can break down sugar and other nutrients in the flowers,” she says. “More pollination promotes reproduction, so the microbes can have an important influence.”

Burgess add microbes can also end up in seeds, which can affect their ability to germinate and their resistance to disease.

Hailing from Oregon, Burgess, who received an honorable mention during the 2022 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship search, was among a recent cohort of graduate students participating in USU’s Climate Adaptation Science specialization, anNSF Research Traineeshiprogram.

“I really enjoyed the interdisciplinary, solutions-oriented approach of the program,” Burgess says. “Our efforts contributed to recommendations for land managers and other parties interested in our region’s ecology and sustainability.”

The Grinnell College alumna, who entered USU in Fall 2021, received scholarships from the Department of Biology, as well as a graduate research award from the USU Ecology Center. Beyond Utah State, Burgess received an Idaho Native Plant Society Education Research Inventory Grant and a Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research grant from the American Philosophical Society, as well as the John Muir Fellowship from University of Colorado Boulder and a graduate fellowship from the Colorado Mountain Club Foundation.

Burgess is a member of the USU Biology Graduate Student Association, and has served as president of the group for the past two years.

“Our focus is on student advocacy and on providing opportunities for students to do community outreach, including participation in the college’s Science Unwrapped program, and by providing travel grants,” Burgess says. “It has been very heartening to see the support from our faculty and administrators, who truly care about our students.”

Still, challenges remain, she says.

“Compensation for graduate students is our biggest challenge,” Burgess says. “We understand the university’s constraints, but this is a key issue affecting student well-being and recruitment.”

She says she’d also like to see a dedicated ombudsperson position created at Utah State for graduate students.

“Policies toward establishing expectations and boundaries, including implementation of stronger and more standardized mentorship agreements are a step in the right direction,” Burgess says. “But an ombudsperson specifically for graduate students is a critical, and very doable, solution that would greatly benefit our scholars.”