Bruna Imai

SSS Soil System Sciences

The 2019 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award is awarded to Bruna Imai for the poster/PICO entitled:

The role of Common Mycorrhizal Networks for nutrient allocation in Fagus sylvatica (European beech) trees (Imai, B.; Gorka, S.; Wiesenbauer, J.; Mayerhofer, W.; Kaiser, C.)

Click here to download the poster/PICO file.

Bruna Imai is a master student at Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (Division of Terrestrial Ecosystem Research) of the University of Vienna. Her research focuses on Mycorrhizae, a symbiotic association between fungi and plants. The aim of her thesis is to investigate if ‘Common Mycorrhizal Networks’, i.e. extensive mycorrhizal mycelia connecting different plants – amplify or alleviate belowground competition for nutrients between plants, and how plant photosynthates are distributed within the belowground network. The awarded poster presents her results on distant carbon and nitrogen flow via hyphae between interconnected Beech trees by using dual isotope labeling and 13C incorporation into microbial biomass.