To investigate how fire and fungi impact seed germination, Lower collected soil samples from areas in Sierra Nevada that were exposed to different degrees of fire and then used the soil samples to grow conifer seedlings back in the greenhouse at UC Davis. His preliminary results suggest that seedlings grown in soil from more severe fire regions have fewer fungal associations, and seedlings with more fungal associations are better able to handle drought conditions. (Laura Bogar/UC Davis)
To investigate how fire and fungi impact seed germination, Lower collected soil samples from areas in Sierra Nevada that were exposed to different degrees of fire and then used the soil samples to grow conifer seedlings back in the greenhouse at UC Davis. His preliminary results suggest that seedlings grown in soil from more severe fire regions have fewer fungal associations, and seedlings with more fungal associations are better able to handle drought conditions. (Laura Bogar/UC Davis)

Fighting Fire with Fungi

From re-entry student to Ph.D. student, Dustin Lower has carved his own path and found his niche studying fungi

  • by Liana Wait

It wasn’t until Dustin Lower returned to college after more than a fifteen-year break that he finally found his niche, and a long sought-after green thumb. 

Lower, who just graduated with a bachelor’s degree in plant biology, is continuing straight on into a Ph.D. through the soils and biogeochemistry program. He plans to continue the research he began as an undergraduate—investigating how soil fungi help forests recover after wildfires—and was recently awarded a fellowship from the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) to support his studies.

Though he didn’t initially plan on a Ph.D., Lower says his time at the University of California, Davis has given him the research experience to realize that this is something he wants, and the confidence that he can do it. 

“I’ve had a very rewarding experience here,” Lower said. “I was fortunate enough to find a lab that was 100% perfect for what I wanted to do, and my adviser, Laura Bogar, is phenomenal—she’s really empowered me to find a research topic that means a lot to me, and cultivated the confidence to go for a Ph.D.”

Read the full story here.