Kevin Garcia

Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology University of California, Davis is hiring. Apply now!

Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology & Fungal Biology, UC Davis. 🍄🌱 recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07339 Deadline Dec 1, 2025. 👀 "Primary teaching responsibilities will be teaching Introductory Mycology, an upper-division lab class, and SAS 30, Mushroom, Molds & Society"

The latest publication from our lab!

The famous "glomalin" from arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi is not a protein but a polysaccharide from AM fungi, so we renamed it "glomalose". Glomalin-related proteins are bacterial proteins stuck in this glomalose.
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Mutualistic Relationships Between Roots and Soil Microbes Facilitate Plant Potassium Acquisition Soil supports diverse life forms and ecosystems through complex interactions among its components, many of which remain poorly understood. Potassium (K) is a vital macronutrient that plays an essential role in plant growth, enzymatic activities, and stress tolerance, but its bioavailability in soils is limited due to complexation in minerals, such as muscovite, biotite, and feldspars. Therefore, only a small fraction is in exchangeable, plant-accessible form. While K fertilizers are commonly used in agriculture and agroforestry to address K deficiencies, the contributions of soil microbial communities to K solubilization and plant acquisition are increasingly recognized. Soil microbes, including K-solubilizing fungi and bacteria, enhance nutrient availability by decomposing soil components, facilitating K release and plant uptake. Despite early recognition of microbial K solubilization in the late nineteenth century, the role of microbes in supporting plant K acquisition remains underexplored, particularly in natural and agro-ecosystems. This chapter reviews current knowledge on plant K uptake mediated by soil microbes, including endophytic and K-solubilizing fungi, bacteria, and mycorrhizal fungi, to highlight their potential for improving soil K cycling, plant K-use-efficiency, and sustainable agricultural practices.

Great review from @garciakevin.bsky.social‬ -> Mutualistic Relationships Between Roots and Soil Microbes Facilitate Plant Potassium Acquisition

The perfect welcome gift for new #labmembers does not exi... Okay, probably way too egocentric!

Had a fantastic evening at Mitch’s Tavern near @ncstate.bsky.social, enjoying great food, drinks, and even better discussion about #EctomycorrhizalSymbiosis with Rytas Vilgalys (@grybas.bsky.social) from Duke University and his group! Looking forward to the next gathering!

Great work that will be presented by Clancy Larmour @ncstate.bsky.social, an undergraduate student from my lab for many years now who was able to culture a local #Amanita species (Amanita persicina)... stay tuned!

We are looking for two postdocs for a synthesis project focused on soil carbon dynamics and warming experiments. If you are excited about applying ML and process-based models to synthesize mechanisms of temperature sensitivity of soil respiration, please apply!
lnkd.in/dV2wuGSe
lnkd.in/diZiM9HV

Join our lab in Amsterdam. We are looking for a Netherlands-based Technician/Analist (MBO-4 level) to apply advanced microscopy, imaging, and molecular techniques to study fungal-plant interactions. 2-yr position

See link for details. Applications due Feb 23rd.
workingat.vu.nl/vacancies/te...

Would love to be included :) Thanks, Bala.

New Phytologist Special Issue: Mycorrhizal research now. View of the soil mycorrhizal community in a hypothetical forest dominated by oak species associated with different types of mycorrhizal fungi.

Special Issue: #Mycorrhizal research now

By integrating molecular, physiological, and ecological perspectives, this collection untangles interactions between #plants and #fungi and their effects on terrestrial ecosystems.

https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14698137/2024/242/4

Congratulations! 🍄🎉

Our nerdy #ChristmasTree is up again at North Carolina State University ! 🧪🎄

Late-breaking job ad: The Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC, USA) is hiring a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Plant Evolutionary Biology!!! More details below. Please repost!

Always a great pleasure to receive an unannounced visit from your first-ever Ph.D. student who helped you build your lab and research program at #NCSU ! So happy to hear that everything is going well for you at #CortevaAgriscience, Dr. Danielle Cooney-Benson !!

It was a pleasure to host Dr. Clémence Bonnot from #INRAE to talk about tree-fungus interactions. Great collaborations to come!

Assistant Professor of Forest Ecophysiology APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, a...

So excited to announce our department is hiring a tenure track position in Forest Ecophysiology! Happy to answer any questions about the position!! Join us in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management at Penn State!
psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/PSU_Ac...

🚨🚨 My Department at @ncstate.bsky.social is looking for a new Head! Please share and/or apply if you feel you can lead our great Department of Crop and Soil Sciences! 🌽🌾🍄🔬

It seems you added another "Kevin Garcia", not me ;-) here is my handle: @garciakevin.bsky.social

Thanks Matthias for doing this; would love to be added!

Preferential nitrogen and carbon exchange dynamics in Mucoromycotina “fine root endophyte”-plant symbiosis Mucoromycotina “fine root endophyte” (MFRE) fungi are an understudied group of plant symbionts that regularly co-occur with arbuscular mycorrhizal fun…

Hot off the press today in @currentbiology.bsky.social, our very latest on Mucoromycotina ‘fine root endophyte’ #mycorrhizas! led by Nathan Howard, we show N source preference and exogenous C metabolism by #MFRE: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... short 🧵

Assistant Professor of Soil-Water Interactions APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, a...

Tenure track job in Soil Water Interactions at Penn State, Department of Ecosystem Science & Management. Awesome group in an awesome place. psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/PSU_Academic...

The Cheeke lab seeks a PhD student to join ongoing research investigating the role of soil microbes in post-fire forest regeneration. The student will be co-advised by Dr. Stephanie Porter at WSU & work with collaborator Dr. Geoff Zahn. Review begins 11/18/24