Mitchell Johnston

PhD Candidate

Mitch is a PhD candidate interested in how plant and fungal communities respond to environmental disturbance. Mitch has completed a Bachelor of Science (Genetics and Cell Biology), and an Honours degree assessing the impacts of prescribed burning to the diversity of plants and fungi in a fire-prone heathland ecosystem. Mitch’s research will continue to explore how fire intensity and frequency can shape plant and fungal communities across a range of fire effected landscapes. Specifically, he will investigate how the biotic interactions between plants and their arbuscular mycorrhizal partners are assembled, and how these interactions are destabilized and reformed during post-fire succession through DNA metabarcoding. 

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Contact : mtjohnst@deakin.edu.au