The Kivlin Lab researchs (1) drivers of microbial taxonomic and functional distributions in plants and soils and (2) the influence of microbial communities on ecosystem-level processing of carbon and nutrients.
Species distribution models are powerful tools for predicting the distributions of "macro"organisms but have scarcely been applied to microbial taxa. MAPS is the first database to collect SDMs for microbial taxa at the global scale.
Global change is affecting microbial composition and function, but observing these effects in real time will preclude advancement of global change ecology. Instead, our lab observes global change in real time by utilizing long-term warming experiments and elevational gradients, which are a space-for-time substituion for climate change. This work is centered at The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) in Crested Butte, CO. We have characterized plant-associated microbial communities and are currently researching ecosystem-level effects of shifts in microbial composition through field-based reciprocal transplants.
Climate change and urbanization are increasing the prevalence of wildfires. However, little is known about how soil microbial communities and associated ecosystem function will recover from these combined disturbance pressures. Our research takes place in the Smoky Mountains near Knoxville, TN.
Microbial and Ecosystem Ecology
Disturbance Ecology
¥ Undergraduate student, † Graduate student, ‡ Postdoctoral Researcher
Kivlin, S.N., M.R. Kazenel†, J.S. Lynn†, D.L. Taylor, and J.A. Rudgers. Plant identity influences foliar endophytes more than elevation in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
Lynn, J.S.†, M.R. Kazenel†, S.N. Kivlin, and J.A. Rudgers. Context-dependent biotic interactions control plant abundance across steep environmental gradients.
Kivlin, S.N., R.A. Bedoya, and C.V. Hawkes. Heterogeneity in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities may contribute to inconsistent plant-soil feedback in Neotropical rainforests.
Sulman, B.N., J.A.M. Moore‡, R. Abramoff, C. Averill, S.N. Kivlin, K. Georgiou, B. Sridhar, M. Hartman, G. Wang, W.R. Wieder, M.A. Bradford, Y. Luo, M. Mayes, E. Morrison, W.J. Riley, A. Salazar, J.P. Schimel, J. Tang, and A.T. Classen. Multiple models and experiments underscore large uncertainty in soil carbon dynamics.
Sulman, B.N., E. Shevliakova, E.R. Brzostek, S.N. Kivlin, S. Malyshev, D.N.L. Menge, and X. Zhang. Diversity in nitrogen acquisition strategies enables enhanced terrestrial carbon storage.
Kivlin, S.N., I. Billick, and J.A Rudgers, Plant-fungal symbiosis in alpine grasslands of the Colorado Rocky Mountains
Kivlin, S.N. and J.A. Rudgers. Direct and indirect influences of warming on plant fungal endophytes: a physiological and compositional approach.
(21) Lekberg, Y., J.D. Bever, R.A. Bunn, R.M. Calaway, M.M. Hart, S.N. Kivlin, J.N. Klironomos, B.G. Larkin, J.L. Maron, K.O. Reinhart, M. Remke, and W.H. van der Putten. 2018. Relative importance of competition and plant soil feedbacks, their context dependency and implications for coexistence. Ecology Letters
(20) Russell, A.E., S.N. Kivlin and C.V. Hawkes. 2018. Tropical tree species effects on soil pH and biotic factors and the consequence for macroaggregate dynamics. Forests 9: 184.
(19) Kivlin, S.N., J.S. Lynn†, M.R. Kazenel†, K.K. Beals†, and J.A. Rudgers. 2017. Biogeography of plant-associated fungal symbionts in mountain ecosystems: A meta-analysis. Diversity and Distributions 23: 1067-1077.
(18) Hawkes, C.V., B.G. Waring, J.D. Rocca, and S.N. Kivlin. 2017. Historical climate controls soil respiration responses to soil moisture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114: 6322-6327.
(17) Bell-Dereske, L.†, C. Vesbach, S.N. Kivlin, S.M. Emery, and J.A. Rudgers. 2017. A leaf endophyte alters belowground microbial communities in Great Lakes dunes. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 93: fix036.
(16) Kivlin, S.N. and C.V. Hawkes. 2016. Tree species, spatial heterogeneity, and seasonality drive soil fungal abundance, richness, and composition in Neotropical rainforests. Environmental Microbiology 18(12): 4662-4673.
(15) Kivlin, S.N. and C.V. Hawkes. 2016. Temporal and spatial variation of soil bacteria richness, composition, and function in a Neotropical rainforest. PLoS ONE 11(7): e0159131.
(14) Ranelli, L.B.¥, W. Hendricks¥, J.S. Lynn†, S.N. Kivlin, and J.A. Rudgers. 2015. Biotic and abiotic predictors of fungal symbiont distributions in grasses of the Colorado Rockies. Diversity and Distributions 21: 962-976.
(13) Kivlin, S.N. and K.K. Treseder. (invited) 2015. Initial phylogenetic relatedness of saprotrophic fungal communities affects subsequent litter decomposition rates. Microbial Ecology 69: 748-757.
(12) Kivlin, S.N., G.C. Winston, M.L. Goulden, and K.K. Treseder. (invited) 2014. Environmental filtering affects soil fungal community composition more than dispersal limitation at regional scales. Fungal Ecology 12: 14-25.
(11) Rudgers, J.A., S.N. Kivlin, K.D. Whitney, M.V. Price, N.M. Waser, and J. Harte. 2014. Responses of high-altitude graminoids and soil fungi to 20 years of experimental warming. Ecology 95: 1918-1928.
(10) Kivlin, S.N. and K.K. Treseder. (invited) 2014. Soil extracellular enzyme activities correspond with abiotic factors more than fungal community composition. Biogeochemistry 117: 23-97.
(9) Kivlin, S.N., B.G. Waring†, C. Averill†, and C.V. Hawkes. (invited commentary) 2013. Tradeoffs in microbial carbon allocation may mediate soil carbon storage in future climates. Frontiers in Terrestrial Microbiology 4: 261.
(8) Kivlin, S.N., S.M. Emery, and J.A. Rudgers. (invited) 2013. Fungal symbionts alter plant responses to global change. American Journal of Botany 100: 1445-1457.
(7) Hawkes, C.V., S.N. Kivlin, J. Du¥, and V.E. Eviner. 2013. The temporal development and additivity of plant-soil feedback in perennial grasses. Plant and Soil 369: 141-150.
(6) Worchel, E.R.†, H.E. Giauque†, and S.N. Kivlin. 2013. Fungal symbionts alter plant drought response. Microbial Ecology 65: 671-678.
(5) Todd-Brown, K., F. Hopkins, S.N. Kivlin, J.M. Talbot, and S.D. Allison. 2012. A framework for representing microbial decomposition in coupled climate models. Biogeochemistry 109: 19-33.
(4) Kivlin, S.N., C.V. Hawkes, and K.K. Treseder. 2011. Global diversity and distribution of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 43: 2294-2303.
(3) Treseder, K.K., S.N. Kivlin, and C.V. Hawkes. 2011. Evolutionary trade-offs among decomposers may constrain responses to nitrogen. Ecology Letters 14: 933-938.
(2) Hawkes, C.V., S.N. Kivlin, J.D. Rocca, V. Huguet, M.A. Thomsen, and K.B. Suttle. 2011. Fungal community responses to precipitation. Global Change Biology 17: 1637-1645.
(1) Kivlin, S.N. and C.V. Hawkes. 2011. Differentiating between effects of invasion and diversity: impacts of aboveground plant communities on belowground fungal communities. New Phytologist 189: 526-535
Book Chapters
(1) Kivlin, S.N., R. Muscarella, C.V. Hawkes, and K.K. Treseder. 2017. The predictive power of ecological niche models for global arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal biogeography. In L. Tedersoo (Ed.) Biogeography of Mycorrhizal Symbiosis. Springer-Verlag.