Current and past reasearch projects are described below.
Colchester Mycoremediation Pilot Project (4/19-6/20)
Focus: watershed health restoration
Involves: installing fungal hugelcultures & planting mycorrhizally dipped riparian species on town-owned lands in the Smith Hollow Brook sub watershed; continued testing, monitoring, and documentation throughout process.
Project aims: to determine whether these strategies uptake phosphorus and/or degrade escherichia coli (E.coli), in waterways deemed by VT to be impaired by both pollutants.
Partners: The Colchester Stormwater Utility has partnered with MycoEvolve
Research questions:
- Do the mycorrhizal riparian buffers reduce the Phosphorus delivered to the waterway?
- Does Trametes versicolor (Turkey Tail), Lentinula edodes (Shitake) reduce E.coli from the waterway?
- Can this green infrastructure handle effectively large inundations in spring snow melt?
- What is the efficacy of the filters for different size storms?
- Are there seasonal variations in the efficacy of the filters?
Spawn source: VT Myconode (now called Mycolab, Mushroom Mountain & Smug Town
Team: Karen Adams, Dr. Joshua Faulkner, Jason McCune-Sanders, Jess Rubin, Lauren Weston, Dr. Josef Gorres, Leif Olson, Sue Van Hook, Intern Mary Robideau, and amazing crew of volunteers
See below photos of the river, assessment, testing, inoculation and tree planting workshops, maps, and our stellar volunteer crews
Focus: watershed health restoration
Involves: installing fungal hugelcultures & planting mycorrhizally dipped riparian species on town-owned lands in the Smith Hollow Brook sub watershed; continued testing, monitoring, and documentation throughout process.
Project aims: to determine whether these strategies uptake phosphorus and/or degrade escherichia coli (E.coli), in waterways deemed by VT to be impaired by both pollutants.
Partners: The Colchester Stormwater Utility has partnered with MycoEvolve
Research questions:
- Do the mycorrhizal riparian buffers reduce the Phosphorus delivered to the waterway?
- Does Trametes versicolor (Turkey Tail), Lentinula edodes (Shitake) reduce E.coli from the waterway?
- Can this green infrastructure handle effectively large inundations in spring snow melt?
- What is the efficacy of the filters for different size storms?
- Are there seasonal variations in the efficacy of the filters?
Spawn source: VT Myconode (now called Mycolab, Mushroom Mountain & Smug Town
Team: Karen Adams, Dr. Joshua Faulkner, Jason McCune-Sanders, Jess Rubin, Lauren Weston, Dr. Josef Gorres, Leif Olson, Sue Van Hook, Intern Mary Robideau, and amazing crew of volunteers
See below photos of the river, assessment, testing, inoculation and tree planting workshops, maps, and our stellar volunteer crews
Mycoremediation of Phosphorus in Agricultural Runoff using Mycorrhizal-Plant Associations at Shelburne Farms. 2019-2021. This ecological restoration project aims to facilitate the recovery of a degraded ecotone between a farm and its watershed basin. This pilot project is a case study for farmers with drainage ditches, overgrown in non-native species, which funnel phosphorus into the lake from tile drains, legacy upland phosphorus, and current land practices. The project will demonstrate how agriculture can reduce P runoff through reintroducing ecosystem functions of increased water retention, filtration capacity, and trophic structures. The research plan is to install mycorrhizally enhanced native vegetation in and along the agricultural drainage way; comparing SRP and TP in and outflows from the control and experimental plots. Our objectives are to:
- Compare the effect on SRP concentrations in agricultural drainage ways with removed invasives and native plantings with and without mycorrhizae.
- Quantify the increase in pollinator habitat due to the restoration efforts in the agricultural drainage way.
- Disseminate results to the agriculture and academic communities.
EPSCOR BREE: Mycoremediation Pilot for Watershed Restoration 2018 - 2019.
Our objectives were to:
We found:
- Stropharia rugoso-amnulata did reduce E.coli #'s
- Both direct contact with SRA mats & enzyme exudates reduced E. coli #s
- Mycelial mats potentially mineralize and release Phosphorus
- Mycelial mats were potential nursery sites for other microbes
More lab research is needed before we would apply them to local hot spots.
Due to other projects in process, we pause in this line of research to focus on working with primary saprophytes and mycorrhizae in mycofiltration potential.
Our objectives were to:
- Assess how King/Queen Stropharia (Stropharia rugoso-annulata) fungi form mycelial mats.
- Gather quantitative data to determine if Stropharia rugoso-annulata (SRA) mycelial mats reduce CFU’s of E. coli in dairy effluent slurry.
- Determine if mycelial mats of SRA affect nutrient cycling.
We found:
- Stropharia rugoso-amnulata did reduce E.coli #'s
- Both direct contact with SRA mats & enzyme exudates reduced E. coli #s
- Mycelial mats potentially mineralize and release Phosphorus
- Mycelial mats were potential nursery sites for other microbes
More lab research is needed before we would apply them to local hot spots.
Due to other projects in process, we pause in this line of research to focus on working with primary saprophytes and mycorrhizae in mycofiltration potential.
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