Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
Year arrived at BSU: 2007
RESEARCH INTERESTS
My research aims to understand the unique association of obligate endosymbionts (“gut fungi”), which can be found worldwide, attached variously to the digestive tract of their (non-predaceous) arthropod hosts. This group of fungi, traditionally placed in the Class Trichomycetes, is quite understudied—historically having been studied by only a handful of researchers at any given time in the approximate century and a half since their first discovery. The gut fungi are diverse and most surveys where we have sampled in the last 10 years (particularly for members of the order Harpellales) have revealed new taxa (as high as 1 new species per 2-3 days with 1-3 people collecting and dissecting).
My fascination is truly captured by the biology of this group of symbiotic fungi and the surprising evolutionary twists that they present when you take a closer look at them. As I arrive in Idaho (never before surveyed for gut fungi) I am particularly interested in learning more about suitable and interesting moist habitats (springs, seeps, creeks etc.) where hosts might be expected (or even well studied) to begin to assess the western species of gut fungi that will be found here.
Therefore, as I initiate a research program at Boise State there will be opportunities for basic field studies (collections of aquatic insects and other suitable arthropods from local streams, creeks etc.), training in the techniques involved in dissecting hosts, proper slide preparation and using traditional morphological approaches to identify and initiate a species list of gut fungi in Boise and the vicinity. These techniques will require patience (all of the fungi are microscopic) to develop a steady hand and to acquire “an eye” and “search image” for them. If you believe you have such an interest, I will be delighted to speak with you about possible research opportunities in my lab.
Aside from biodiversity surveys to try to discover and document new species or expand known distributions of other species—using morphology, I also use molecular systematic tools and phylogeny reconstruction to infer natural relationships among extant taxa of gut fungi and to understand how they have evolved with their hosts (the fungi exhibit varying degrees of host specificity). The data being generated from DNA sequences, especially from unculturable exemplars of the dissected microfungi, are prompting us to pause and reconsider the origins of these symbionts that have evolved so intimately with their hosts. If you think graduate studies along this molecular systematic line would be of interest, please contact me.
Mailing Address:
Department of Biology
Boise State University
Boise, ID 83725-1515
Office Location: Science Building, Room 210
Office Number: 208-426-4638
Office Fax: 208-426-4267
E-Mail Address: merlinwhite@boisestate.edu
ACADEMIC DEGREES
Ph.D. Botany (Mycology), University of Kansas. 2002.
M.Sc. Dalhousie University (Canada) 1997.
B.Ed. Dalhousie University (Canada) 1995.
B.Sc. Saint Mary’s University (Canada) 1991.
Post doctoral experience: University of Kansas 2002-2006