Maria Faticov
About me
I am currently a researcher at DEEP investigating microbial communities on plants and how they are affected by urban environment. I have recently defended my PhD thesis on spatial and temporal ecology of fungal communities on oak.
Research
The overarching aim of the PhD project was to identify and quantify the forces structuring fungal communities of oak (Quercus robur) in space and time.
Specifically, I aimed to:
- to investigate the local and spatial factors that shape the fungal communities in the leaves and soil
- to investigate the role of climate, host characteristics and natural enemies in defining the niches of three cryptic species within the oak powdery mildew complex at multiple spatial scales
- to look on the role of warming, tree genotype and their interaction in shaping foliar fungal communities across the full growing season
- to assess the impact of warming, tree genotype and their interaction on the spring and autumn phenology of oak trees, the seasonal dynamics of a fungal pathogen, and the density of a sap-sucking insect
Photo of the warming experiment run in 2017.
Here, we investigated the impact of experimental heating, tree genotype and their interaction on the seasonal dynamics of foliar fungi, the spring and autumn phenology of oak trees and on the dynamics of oak attackers.
Teaching
Course assistant at Ecology I and Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions in 2018 and 2019
Other acitivities and outreach
1. Member of the Department communication group in 2018-2019. Check DEEP Twitter and homepage.
2. Information sheet on an insect, leaf miner Acrocercops brongniardella, attacking Swedish oaks every spring in recent years
Publications
Faticov, M., Ekholm, A., Roslin, T. and Tack, A.J., 2020. Climate and host genotype jointly shape tree phenology, disease levels and insect attacks. Oikos, 129(3), pp.391-401.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/oik.06707
Faticov, M., Abdelfattah, A., Roslin, T., Vacher, C., Hambäck, P., Blanchet, F.G., Lindahl, B.D. and Tack, A.J., 2021. Climate warming dominates over plant genotype in shaping the seasonal trajectory of foliar fungal communities on oak. New Phytologist.