Bluffton biologist to outline research in the Rockies

Dr. Robert Antibus, professor of biology at Bluffton University, will discuss the importance of the whitebark pine tree in the northern Rockies and its critical role in holding high-elevation communities together at 4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 3, in Stutzman Lecture Hall in Bluffton's Centennial Hall. The colloquium is free and open to the public.

The presentation will focus on efforts to restore the whitebark pine and the role of mycorrhizae-fungi that appear as mushrooms and help trees grow-in saving the species. According to Antibus, mature stands of whitebark pine are currently dying at an unprecedented rate due to a rust fungus and native pine beetles, and the mycorrhizae may help prevent the loss of trees, or the fungi themselves may be lost.

Antibus, who conducted research in the Yellowstone area while on sabbatical from Bluffton last academic year, hopes the audience will come away with an appreciation for the complex interactions of species in ecosystems. "These trees play a role in the ecology of high-elevation mountain areas in feeding animals and preventing avalanches," says Antibus. "The audience will learn how this problem prevented the delisting of grizzly bears from the endangered species list, and why the trees are on the endangered species list in Canada."

Antibus became interested in the topic after a friend, Cathy Cripps, a professor of biology at Montana State University, asked him to join her research group for a year and contribute his expertise in the area of mycorrhizal physiology. "Montana State is very close to Yellowstone and does a great deal of research there," says Antibus. "The visual impact of disease on the landscape has raised a great deal of public awareness in the West."