A peach grower in Georgia thought he had the perfect set-up for a new business.

He had the capital and enough land to start a grove, and he had just fumigated the site to kill any pests or pathogens that might have stopped the trees from thriving. When weeks went by with no signs of growth, the owner panicked. Through a local extension agent, he contacted West Virginia University’s Joe Morton.

That connection saved his business and the local economy thousands of dollars.

“It was a huge acreage and he had a big investment in these trees,” Morton said. “But they wouldn’t grow. By fumigating the land, he’d killed off beneficial fungi in the soil that the trees needed for hardy growth.”

Acting on Morton’s advice, the grove owner brought in fungi-rich topsoil from neighboring land and the trees were given a new chance at life.

What Morton passed on was a simple tip, the kind of knowledge he’s dispensed for the past three decades without much credit or public recognition. Listed as a professor of Plant and Soil Sciences in WVU’s Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, Morton is not only the owner and caretaker of the world’s largest collection of arbuscular endomycorrhizal fungi, but he’s also one of the world’s leading authorities on the stuff.

Mention “fungi” to the layperson and images of life-sapping disease and grotesque mutations may be the first things that come to mind. But endomycorrhizal fungi, which are commonly found in most soils, aren’t harmful – “they’re essential to normal and sustainable plant growth,” Morton said. Mycorrhiza refers to a fungus-root symbiosis in which both partners obtain important physiological, nutritional and ecological benefits.

“These fungi are found all over the world,” Morton said. “About 80 percent of all plants can’t live in nature without them because they can’t get the nutrients they need from roots alone.” Additional nourishment is delivered through fungal hyphae – filaments that branch through the soil, collecting nutrients that the roots can’t reach.

Click to hear Dr. Joe Morton talk about the responsibility of owning and maintaining the world's largest collection of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

Morton is more than an expert – he’s a multi-purpose, multi-media resource. His International Collection of Vesicular-Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi collection, funded by the National Science Foundation and housed in Davis College’s agricultural complex, features around 1,200 cultures representing about half of the 250 species and practically every climate around the world, Morton said. The next biggest collection is in Europe and has fewer than 100 cultures.

And through his INVAM website (http://plantandsoil.wvu.edu/research_areas/invam) and mostly word-of-mouth networking, he’s able to share his knowledge and make it available to researchers and students from all over the world. Spore samples are available on microscope-friendly glass slides; living cultures associated with plants and in various stages of growth are housed in two green houses near the lab; and packaged cultures are labeled and stored in a walk-in refrigerated room, waiting to replace cultures that have been sent out or are in decline.

Morton’s role is crucial because, “there are no textbooks on these fungi and no formal courses on the subject in high schools or colleges. There’s not much out there to teach you how to identify these fungi. So we have a website, we provide materials on loan, we answer questions by email and we have visitors from all over the world. If they can afford to travel here, they can spend time in our lab.”

The role of research on mycorrhizal fungi and their symbiosis with plants is becoming more critical to global economies as communities and entrepreneurs turn to locally grown and sustainable crops.

Click to hear Dr. Joe Morton describe the importance of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

Morton points to Mingo County as a prime example. He helped community developers there grow grapes and apple trees on privately donated tracts of land.

He also has helped several entrepreneurs, including one in southern West Virginia and one in France, develop fungi-based products that can be used by anyone. These inocula aren’t agronomists’ alchemy – they can’t grow roses in the Sahara – but they can provide a significant boost to plant life and health in most soils and climates, especially if there has been severe disturbance or environmental catastrophe.

Companies and individuals, says Morton, are, “coming to us for starter material to develop their product line. I would say we’ve provided material to 80 percent of the companies who are selling inocula today. We also provide a service of testing inocula for quality.”

Spreading the gospel of INVAM is also growing in importance as planned and unplanned land disruptions become more widespread. Like the peach tree grower, novice farmers might unintentionally kill off soil fungi crucial to a crop’s success. Also, natural disasters such as fires or man-made disruptions like the construction of a housing development can disturb soil enough to inhibit or destroy microbial life which jeopardizes plant life.

Fertilizers can also sustain and enhance plant life, but identifying mycorrhizal fungi can save land owners a significant amount of money and maintenance over time. To put it in perspective, Morton once did a study that depicted a hypothetical extinction of mycorrhizal fungi. The cost to fertilize the world’s plant life if these fungi weren’t around would be almost $630 billion a year, he said.

“There’s not a danger of these fungi becoming extinct – they’re potentially immortal,” Morton said. “But the study points out the huge hidden economic benefit of these fungi in natural settings.”

Click to hear Dr. Joe Morton talk about the history of WVU's INVAM collection and the role it plays in helping scientists, students, farmers and businesses.

INVAM’s roots date back to the 1980s, when Morton first joined the WVU faculty and began a small collection of cultures. A few years later, he became the natural successor to a collection of similar size that was started by Norman Schenk at the University of Florida when Schenk retired. By merging the two collections, Morton was able to secure funding from the National Science Foundation that has been sustained to the present day.

Over the years, INVAM has become much more than an academic tool or a departmental bragging point. But being a resource for the world has not come without a price.

Morton says maintaining the collection is a 365-day concern and he and research assistant Bill Wheeler are practically the sole proprietors. Both must constantly monitor the plants to make sure each fungus is growing properly and must diligently record and track information on each culture. And since there are so few experts in the field, Morton’s obligation to serve the needs of an international community can be daunting.

In fact, the collection is so all-consuming that Morton wonders who will take it on when he retires.

“No one wants the responsibility of doing all the work that’s associated with the collection,” he said.

But Morton admits that the benefits outweigh the burden.

“I really enjoy helping students from all around the world who need help,” Morton said. “It’s our job to train the next generation of scientists and I’m glad to help them get started.”

By Dan Shrensky
University Relations/News

-WVU-

dss/03/06/12

CONTACT: David Welsh, Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design
304.293.2394; David.Welsh@mail.wvu.edu

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