E62: 🍄 Mycorrhiza magic – Spurring natural grassland restoration through symbiotic microbial communities

Like probiotics are for your gut, mycorrhizal fungi are for soil in vitalizing millions of microorganisms!

Dr. Adriana Morrell, Instructor and Mycology Lab Scientific Lead from Lethbridge Polytechnic shares about her sustainable research project on soil reclamation. Adriana's aim? Identify effective treatments to spur biologically diverse and productive outcomes after a disturbance (like coal mining) as quickly as possible. 

Adriana was recently awarded $250K from Alberta Innovates, and she is already prepping for the spring, where native grasses pre-inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi will be relocated to select sites in the Crownest Pass.

During the show, guest and hosts mention:

• Instructor receives $250,000 Alberta Innovates grant to accelerate land reclamation efforts 
• The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben 
• Mycorrhiza 
• Athabasca University 
• Leitch Collieries Provincial Historic Site
• Crowsnest Pass (Google Maps)
• Systems Thinking 
• Alberta Innovates 
  • Land and Biodiversity Program 
• CTED – Centre for Technology, Environment, and Design 
• University of Calgary 
• Nature Conservancy of Canada  
• Grumpy’s Greenhouses 
• Grassland Restoration Forum 
• Parks Canada 
• TC Energy 
• Teck Resources Canada
• EnviroScape 
• For a tour of the Mycology Lab, reach out to Adriana (adriana.morrell@lethpolytech.ca)!