Jonathan Bauer
I am an assistant professor in the Biology Department and the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability at Miami University.
Follow @jonathantbauerCurrent Lab Members
Grace Brock
Grace is a research assistant in the Bauer Lab. She joined in Fall 2020 after receiving a B.A. in Botany and Creative Writing. She’s currently working on establishing fungal cultures from soil cores of several Midwestern prairie sites for the purpose of analyzing plant-fungl symbiosis. Grace is interested in the restoration of natural areas (as well as the colonization of barren or environmentally challenging areas) using the multi-mutualist model.
Emily Galloway
Emily is currently working on her PhD in Biology. She’s interested in studying the role that microbes play in prairie restoration. She intends to blend soil ecology and community assembly into a restoration focus to contribute to the knowledge gap of how the biological and physical composition below-ground affects the above-ground in prairies. Emily is motivated to apply this research to restoration practices that can then be applied to the public or benefit practitioners. Emily joined the Bauer Lab in Fall 2020.
Laura Schonken
Laura is an undergraduate Botany major, with co-majors in Fashion and Sustainability. Laura recently joined the lab in Fall 2021 and has enjoyed assisting with preparations for several lab projects, as well as developing her skillset in fungal spore extraction, plant care and data analysis.
Katie Stahlhut
Katie is a PhD Botany student. She joined the Bauer Lab in Fall 2020. Katie is currently working on a meta-analysis on intraspecific variation in mycorrhizal growth response, which she hopes to use as a foundation for future research into how genetic variation impacts AM symbiosis. She has also conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of mycorrhizal colonization in sunflower
Bauer Lab Alumni
Karly Cazzato
Karly is an M.S. Botany student currently researching plant-soil feedback. She joined the Bauer Lab in Fall 2020. Prior to coming to Miami University, Karly studied the impacts of a hemiparasite on legumes in restored prairies at Illinois State University. In addition, Karly has a B.S. in Statistics and enjoys using mathematical models to predict restoration outcomes. She hopes to work with the statistical analysis of biological data after finishing her Masters Degree.
Laura Fehling
Laura is a Botany Masters student in Hank Stevens’ lab. She’s currently working on a project testing the context dependency and complementarity of multi-species mutualisms with the native legume Chamaecrista fasciculata. Laura is interested in understanding the complexity of multi-mutualist interactions, how these interactions might shift under future climate change, and the application of this research to restoration and conservation practices. She began collaborating with the Bauer Lab in Fall 2020.
Alex Bowers
Alex is an undergraduate majoring in Botany and Environmental Earth Science. He joined the Bauer Lab in Fall 2019 and has been assisting lab mate Karly Cazzato with running and analyzing plant-soil feedback projects in the greenhouse.
Josie Laing
Josie is an undergraduate Botany major, with co-majors in Food Systems and Food Studies. She’s working on a collaborative project with fellow lab members Stahlhut and Witt. This follows a summer Eco REU project in which Josie studied plant trait responses to mycorrhizal colonization. Josie is also interested in mapping out a framework that connects the leaf economic spectrum to the root economic spectrum for each of the 27 prairie species she’s currently studying.
Lydia Witt
Lydia is an undergraduate Biology major. She joined the Bauer Lab in February 2020 and is interested in the impact that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and soil microbes have on life history traits. Lydia received an Undergraduate Summer Scholar Fellowship in the summer of 2021 and worked alongside lab mates Laing and Stahlhut to study the effects of mycorrhizae on the traits of 27 prairie plant species.
Sidney Noble
Sidney is working at the Indiana Dunes, near the site of some of the first ecological research on plant succession, to understand the resilience and restoration potential of plant communities in a changing environment.
Sidney is a M.S. Botany student in the Biology Department.
Tristan Barley
Tristan is studying pollination in restored prairies to determine if the fitness of rare plant species may be pollen or pollinator limited.
Tristan is a M.En. student in the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability.
Veronica Briggs
Veronica is an undergraduate majoring in Botany and Environmental Science. During her time in the Bauer Lab, she worked on a project examining how soil fertility gradients impact the dynamics of plant-mycorrhizal symbioses.
Dan Sedlacek
Dan recently received his IES Masters degree with a focus on land resources and food systems. He joined the Bauer Lab in Fall 2019 and notably worked as a TA for Jonathan’s Food Systems class where he assisted students as they analyzed plant-mycorrhizal interactions to further lab research. Dan’s personal research consists of working with farmers and landowners to develop a method of communication between individuals and local government organizations.
Bauer Lab @ Miami University 