In most aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, detrital pathways typically dominate the flow of carbon and the recycling of nutrients. As a result, heterotrophic microorganisms can be viewed as important functional components of the ecosystem, since many of the fundamental processes related to carbon flow and elemental cycling are intimately coupled with, and influenced by, their metabolic activities. Through my research I seek to expand our knowledge of organic matter processing and biogeochemical cycles in ecosystems. Specifically, I am interested in the quantitative role of fungal organisms in these processes. Much of my research focuses on fungal-mediated processes in wetland ecosystems. However, my interests have expanded in recent years to include a variety of questions ranging from potential microbial interactions on fungal processes in wetlands to the role of ectomycorrhizal fungi in terrestrial ecosystems.
Recent Representative Publications
Kuehn, K.A., S.N. Francoeur, R.H. Findlay and R.K. Neely. 2013. Priming in the microbial landscape: periphytic algal stimulation of litter-associated microbial decomposers. Ecology: (in press, ESA preprint www.esajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1890/13-0430.1)
Aubrey, D.P. B. Mortazavi, J.J. O’Brien, J.D. McGee, J.J. Hendricks, K.A. Kuehn, R.O. Teskey and R.J. Mitchell. 2012. Influence of repeated canopy scorching on soil CO2 efflux. Forest Ecology and Management 282:142-148.
Kuehn, K.A., B.M. Ohsowski, S.N. Francoeur and R.K. Neely. 2011. Contribution of decomposer fungi to standing-dead leaf litter decomposition of the emergent macrophyte Typha angustifolia. Limnology and Oceanography 56:529-539.
Gulis, V., K.A. Kuehn, and K. Suberkropp. (2009). Fungi. Pages 233-243 in G.E. Likens (ed.), Encyclopedia of Inland Waters, Volume 3. Elsevier, Oxford, UK.
Gessner, M.O., V. Gulis, K.A. Kuehn, E. Chauvet and K. Suberkropp. (2007). Fungal decomposers of plant litter in aquatic habitats. Pages 301-324 in C.P. Kubicek and I.S. Druzhinina (eds), The Mycota Vol. IV., 2nd edition: Environmental and Microbial
Relationships, Springer Verlag, Germany.