Ken Cullings

Ken Cullings received his PhD in the Bruns Lab in December of 1993. He then worked as a postdoc for the USDA in Corvallis Oregon. Ken returned to the bay area at the end of 1994 and worked with Christian Orrego and Tom Parker at San Francisco State University in the Conservation Genetic Laboratory until May of 1997.

In January of 1998, Ken started working as a Scientist in the Exobiology Branch of NASA-Ames Research Center in Mountain View, a permanent pure research position. He's the token biologist in Exobiology, everyone else being planetary physicists, geologists and chemists.

NASA-Ames Research Center
MS-239-4
Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000
email: kcullings@mail.arc.nasa.gov

His current projects are:

PI on the NSF project looking at effects of above-ground manipulations to carbon and soil chemistry on EM community structure.
Co-PI and chief evolutionary ecologist at NASA on the Early Microbial Ecosystems study looking at ecology and evolution in systems that match or nearly match earth's earliest ecosystems.
Evolution of major lineages of snakes and rates of molecular evolution in squamate nuclear and mitochondrial genomes.

Student's Projects:

Kristin Byrd: Effects of clear-cutting vs. natural burn on EM communities
Bill Stoll: Changes in EM communtities through succession in a fire ecosystem

Publications

Cullings, K.W., M.H. New, S. Makhija, and V.T. Parker. 2003. Effects of litter addition on ectomycorrhizal associates of a lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) stand in Yellowstone National Park. Applied & Environmental Microbiology 69:3772-3776.
Drew, R.E., J.G. Hallett, K.B. Aubry, K.W. Cullings, S.M. Koepf, and W.J. Zielinski. 2003. Conservation genetics of the fisher (Martes pennanti) based on mitochondrial DNA sequencing. Molecular Ecology 12:51-62.
Cullings, K.W., D.R. Vogler, V.T. Parker, and S. Makhija. 2001. Defoliation effects on the ectomycorrhizal community of a mixed Pinus contorta/Picea engelmannii stand in Yellowstone Park. Oecologia 127:533-539.
Cullings, Ken; Makhija, Shilpa. Ectomycorrhizal fungal associates of Pinus contorta in soils associated with a hot spring in Norris Geyser basin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Applied and Environmental Microbiology December, 2001. 67(12): 5538-5543.
Cullings, K.W., Vogler, D.R., Parker, V.T., and Makhija, S. 2001. Defoliation effects on the ectomycorrhizal community of a mixed Pinus contorta/Picea engelmannii stand in Yellowstone Park. Oecologia (Berlin) May, 2001. 127(4): 533-539.
Cullings, K.W., Parker, V.T., Finley, S.K. and D.R. Vogler. 2000. Ectomycorrhizal specificity patterns in a mixed Pinus contorta and Picea engelmannii forest in Yellowstone National Park. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 66:4988-4991.
Byrd, K.B., Parker, V.T., Vogler, D.R., Cullings, K.W. 2000. The influence of clear-cutting on ectomycorrhizal fungus diversity in a lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) stand, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, and Gallatin National Forest, Montana. Canadian Journal of Botany. 78:149-156.
Cullings, K. 2000. Reassessment of phylogenetic relationships of some members of the Monotropoideae based on partial 28S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. Canadian Journal of Botany. 78:1-2.
Cullings, K.W. and Vogler, D.R. 1998. A 5.8S nuclear ribosomal RNA gene sequence database: Applications to ecology and evolution. Molecular Ecology 7(7): 919-923. Molecular Ecology.
Cullings, K.W. and Hileman, L. 1998. The Monotropoideae (Ericaceae) is a monophyletic sister group to the Arburoideae: a molecular test of Copeland's hypothesis. Madrono 44(3): 297-299.
T.D. Bruns, T.M. Szaro, M. Gardes, K.W. Cullings, J.J. Pan, D.L. Taylor, T.R. Horton, A. Kretzer, M. Garbelotto and Y. Li. 1998. A sequence database for the identification of ectomycorrhizal Basidiomycetes by phylogenetic analysis. Molecular Ecology, v.7, n.3, (1998): 257-272.
Stoll, W; Cullings, K; Byrd, K B; Parker, V T. 1997. Diversity and distribution of ectomycorrhizal fungi in lodgepole pine forests of Yellowstone National Park, USA. (Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America held jointly with the Nature Conservancy on Changing Ecosystems. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, v.78, n.4 SUPPL., (1997): 317.
Parker, V T; Stoll, W W; Cullings, K W. 1997. Changes in distribution and relative frequency of Pinus contorta mycorrhizae through succession. (Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America held jointly with the Nature Conservancy on Changing Ecosystems. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, v.78, n.4 SUPPL., (1997): 294.
Cullings, K W; Stoll, W W; Parker, V T. 1997. Specificity patterns in mycorrhizal interactions in a mixed spruce-pine forest in Yellowstone. (Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America held jointly with the Nature Conservancy on Changing Ecosystems: Natural... Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, v.78, n.4 SUPPL., (1997): 238.
Cullings, K.W., Morafka, D.M., Hernandez, J., and Roberts, J. 1997. Reassessment of phylogenetic relationships among pitviper genera based on mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences. Copeia 2: 429-432.
Cullings, K.W. 1996 Single phylogenetic origin of the world's heath plants indicated by 28s ribosomal RNA gene sequences and the ericoid mycorrhizal symbiosis. Canadian Journal of Botany 74:1896-1909.
Cullings, K. W., Szaro, T. M., and Bruns, T. D. 1996. Evolution of extreme specialization within a lineage of ectomycorrhizal epiparasites. Nature 379(6560): 63-67.
Cullings, K.W. 1994. Molecular phylogeny of the Monotropoideae with a note on the placement of the Pyroloideae. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 7(4): 501-516
Cullings, K.W. 1992. Design and testing of a plant-specific PCR primer for ecological and evolutionary studies. Molecular Ecology, 1(4):233-240.
Cullings, K. W. and T. D. Bruns 1992. Phylogenetic origins of the Monotropoideae inferred from partial 28S rRNA gene sequences. Canadian Journal Of Botany. 70(8):1703-1708.

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