Research Interests
Dr. Turner is a plant ecologist whose research focuses on forest community ecology, exotic invasive plant ecology, and ectomycorrhizal fungi (ECMF). Currently he is conducting several projects related to these interests. In one project, he is examining the potential influence of garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) on native plants in a beech-tuliptree forest at WCU’s Gordon Natural Area. In this study he is examining how garlic mustard allelopathy may influence red oak (Quercus rubra) growth and associated ECMF. He is also conducting a macrofungi survey at the Gordon NA with undergraduate researchers. Dr. Turner is also conducting an ongoing multi-year study of exotic plant encroachment at the Grassy Hill Natural Area in southwest Virginia with Marianne Demkó, a mycologist at Virginia Western Community College. Students at WCU, both undergraduate and graduate, can focus on these projects or related projects that they may wish to design.
(1) Turkeytail shelf fungi (Coriolus versicolor) at the Gordon Natural Area.
(2) Forest Ecology (BIO 535) graduate students after surveying tree distributions
at the Gordon Natural Area, Fall 2007.
(3) Orange ectomycorrhizal fungal mantles on scrub pine
(Pinus virginiana) roots from the Grassy Hill Natural Area.
(4) Exotic and native plants growing along a logging road corridor
at Grassy Hill Natural Area.
(5) Waiting for corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) to bloom, Summer 2006.