Sarah Marcotte

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Major

Biology

Advisor(s)

Seanna Annis

Committee Members

Peter Avis, Mark Haggerty, Joshua Jones, Jose Meireles

Graduation Year

May 2022

Publication Date

2025

Abstract

Wild blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) are one of Maine's most economically and culturally important crops. Grown in acidic glacial outwash fields, wild blueberries rely on symbiotic associations with ericoid mycorrhizae to survive in these nutrient poor conditions. A growing body of research demonstrates potentially deleterious effects of pesticides, particularly fungicides such as propiconazole, on non-target mycorrhizae in agricultural settings. This thesis investigated the differences in mycorrhizal abundance and diversity in organically and conventionally managed wild blueberry fields using root staining and next generation sequencing to determine the impacts of wild blueberry management practices on mycorrhizal health. No statistically significant differences were found between organic and conventional fields in any analysis of mycorrhizal abundance and diversity, indicating that perhaps the classifications of organic and conventional management styles were too broad to capture the impacts of specific management practices. Further research that groups fields more specifically by management practices such as burning or fungicide application and takes into account environmental factors such as season and soil texture may result in clearer and more precise data on the impacts of management on ericoid mycorrhizae in wild blueberries.

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