Biological and Environmental Science Seminar 14.08.2025

Peter Kennedy is an ecologist broadly interested in plant-microbe interactions, particularly those involving fungi when both alive and dead. He received his undergraduate degree from The Evergreen State College and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He joined the faculty in the Department of Plant & Microbial Biology at the University of Minnesota in 2013.

The importance of dead microbial cells as a major source of soil organic matter has become increasingly appreciated in recent years. These cells, collectively referred to as microbial necromass, are now recognized to be a substantial component of the carbon that is stored long-term in soils. Given the large amounts of biomass produced by mycorrhizal fungi in many ecosystems, a better understanding of the decomposition mycorrhizal fungal necromass will improve knowledge of how carbon and nutrients move from decaying fungal necromass into ecosystem pools, both below and above ground. Using the mycorrhizal fungus, Hyaloscypha bicolor (formerly Meliniomyces bicolor), we have conducted a series of studies determining how fungal traits such as melanization influence rates of mycorrhizal necromass decomposition. Further, we have characterized the microbial communities associated with decomposing H. bicolor mycorrhizal necromass in a variety of ecosystems and found that they are taxonomically and functionally diverse. In this talk, I will summarize our work in the H. bicolor study system as well as discuss outstanding questions about how mycorrhizal fungal necromass acts as an important source and sink of carbon in soil food webs.