Benjamin Sikes

Associate Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Associate Scientist, Kansas Biological Survey

Ph.D., University of Guelph, 2010

Primary office:

785-864-1599

Higuchi Hall
Room #41

Dr. Sikes is a microbial ecologist whose research focuses on soil fungi, their community interactions and use in restoration

Selected Publications

Sikes, B. A., Bufford, J., Hulme, P., Cooper, J., Johnston, P., and Duncan, R. 2018. Import volumes and biosecurity interventions shape the arrival rate of fungal pathogens. PLOS Biology 16(5): e2006025. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2006025
Sikes, B. A., Paszalek, J., de Leon, N. E., and Hawkes, C. V. 2017. Regardless of N-substrate, multiple fungal root endophytes isolated from pastures outgrow and outcompete those isolated from undisturbed sites. Pedobiologia 63: 52-58.
Bufford, J., Hulme, P., Sikes, B., Cooper, J., Johnston, P., and Duncan, R. 2016. Taxonomic similarity, more than contact opportunity, explains novel plant-pathogen associations between native and alien taxa. New Phytologist 212(3): 657-667.

Sikes, B. A., Hawkes, C. V., and Fukami, T. 2016. Plant and root-endophyte assembly history: interactive effects on native and exotic plants. Ecology 97(2): 484-493.
Aslan, C., B. A. Sikes, and K. Gedan. 2015. Research on mutualisms between native and non-native partners can contribute critical ecological insights. Neobiota 26: 39-54.
Powell, J. R., and B. A. Sikes. 2014. Method or madness: Does OTU delineation bias our perceptions of fungal ecology? New Phytologist 202(4): 1095-1097. doi:10.1111/nph.12823
Sikes, B. A., H. Maherali, and J. N. Klironomos. 2013. Mycorrhizal fungal growth responds to soil characteristics, but not host plant identity, during a primary lacustrine dune succession. Mycorrhiza 1: 8.

Sikes, B. A.. 2012. "Internalizing Conservation through our own Microbes" Conservation Biology. 26(2). 198.

Courtney, K. C., L. D. Bainard, B. A. Sikes, A. M. Koch, M. M. Hart, H. Maherali, and J. N. Klironomos. 2012. "Determining a minimum detection threshold in terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis" Journal of Microbiological Methods. 88(1). 14-18.

Sikes, B. A., H. Maherali, and J. N. Klironomos. 2012. "Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities change among three stages of primary sand dune succession but do not alter plant growth" Oikos. 121. 1791-1800.

Schnitzer, S. A., J. N. Klironomos, J. HilleRisLambers, L. L. Kinkel, P. B. Reich, K. Xiao, M. C. Rillig, B. A. Sikes, and R. M. Callaway. 2011. "Soil microbes drive the classic plant diversity productivity pattern" Ecology. 92(2). 296-303.

Harnden, J., A. S. MacDougall, and B. A. Sikes. 2011. "Field-based effects of allelopathy in invaded tallgrass prairie" Botany. 89(4). 227-234.

Sikes, B. A.. 2010. "When do arbuscular mycorrhizas protect plant roots from pathogens?" Plant Signaling and Behavior. 5(6). 763-765.

Sikes, B. A., J. R. Powell, and M. C. Rillig. 2010. "Deciphering the relative contributions of multiple functions within plant-microbe symbioses" Ecology. 91(6). 1591-1597.

Wolfe, B. E., J. L. Parrent, A. M. Koch, B. A. Sikes, M. Gardes, and J. N. Klironomos. 2009. "Spatial heterogeneity in mycorrhizal populations and communities: scales and mechanisms" Mycorrhizas - Functional Processes and Ecological Impact. edited by Azcon-Aguilar, C., J. M. Barea, S. Gianinazzi, and V. Gianinazzi-Pearson. 167-185.

Sikes, B. A., K. Cottenie, and J. N. Klironomos. 2009. "Plant and fungal identity determines pathogen protection of plant roots by arbuscular mycorrhizas" Journal of Ecology. 97. 1274-1280.

Howard, R. J., S. E. Travis, and B. A. Sikes. 2007. "Rapid Growth of a Eurasian haplotype of Phragmites australis in a restored brackish marsh in Louisiana, USA" Biological Invasions. 10(3). 369-379.

Search form