Dr. Benjamin Sikes


Ben Sikes
  • Associate Professor
  • Associate Scientist
  • Research Interests: Fungal Ecology, Plant and Soil Community Ecology, Adaptations to Extreme Environments, Restoration and Sustainable Agriculture

Contact Info

Office Phone:
Department Phone:
Lab Phone:
Higuchi Hall, room #41

Biography

Dr. Benjamin Sikes is a microbial ecologist whose research focuses on soil fungi, their community interactions, stress tolerance, and use in ecosystem management.

Research

Research interests:

  • soil
  • microbes
  • fungi
  • fire
  • succession
  • ecosystem management
  • extreme environments

Teaching

Teaching interests:

  • fungi
  • microbial ecology
  • community ecology
  • restoration ecology

Selected Publications

Journal Articles († = graduate student, ‡undergraduate/high school student i = invited)

  • Swift JF, Kolp MR, Carmichael A, Ford NE‡, Hansen PM†, Sikes BA, Kleiner M, Wagner MR. Environmental legacy effects impact maize growth and microbiome assembly under drought stress. Plant and Soil. 2024 Accepted.
  • Peterson AT, Cobos ME, Sikes BA, Soberon J, Osorio-Olvera L, Bolick J, Emmett A. Relationships among cost, citation, and access in journal publishing by an ecology and evolutionary biology department at a US university. PeerJ. 2024 Jan 4;12:e16514.
  • Hopkins JR†, Huffman JM, Jones NJ, Platt WJ, Sikes BA. Pyrophilic Plants Respond to Postfire Soil Conditions in a Frequently Burned Longleaf Pine Savanna. The American Naturalist. 2023 Mar 1;201(3):389-403.
  • Bixler RP, Epanchin-Niell RS, Brunson MW, Tarver RD†, Sikes BA, McClure M, Aslan CE. How social and ecological characteristics shape transaction costs in polycentric wildfire governance: insights from the Sequoia-Kings Canyon Ecosystem, California, USA. Ecology and Society. 2023 Mar 1;28(1).
  • Hopkins JR†, Semenova-Nelsen TA, Sikes BA. Land management drives dynamic changes to microbial function through edaphic factors and soil biota. Pedobiologia. 2023 Mar 1;96:150859.
  • Aslan CE, Veloz S, Epanchin-Niell RS, Brunson MW, Sikes BA. Integrating social and ecological predictors to understand variation within ecosystems: A case study of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park PACE. Natural Areas Journal. 2022 Oct;42(4):284-92.
  • Dao VQ‡, Potts SE†, Johnson CN, Sikes BA, Platt WJ. Substrate and low intensity fires influence bacterial communities in longleaf pine savanna. Scientific reports. 2022 Dec 3;12(1):20904.
  • Aslan CE, Zachmann L, Epanchin-Niell RS, Brunson MW, Veloz S, Sikes BA. Soil characteristics and bare ground cover differ among jurisdictions and disturbance histories in Western US protected area-centered ecosystems. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 2022 Dec 23;10:1053548.
  • Fox S†, Sikes BA, Brown SP, Cripps CL, Glassman SI, Hughes K, Semenova-Nelsen T, Jumpponen A. Fire as a driver of fungal diversity—A synthesis of current knowledge. Mycologia. 2022 Mar 4;114(2):215-41.
  • Hopkins JR†, Semenova-Nelsen T, Sikes BA. Fungal community structure and seasonal trajectories respond similarly to fire across pyrophilic ecosystems. FEMS Microbiology Ecology. 2021 Jan;97(1):fiaa219.
  • Delavaux CS†, Schemanski JL‡, House GL, Tipton AG, Sikes B, Bever JD. Root pathogen diversity and composition varies with climate in undisturbed grasslands, but less so in anthropogenically disturbed grasslands. The ISME journal. 2021 Jan;15(1):304-17.
  • McKenna TP, Koziol L, Bever JD, Crews TE, Sikes BA. Abiotic and biotic context dependency of perennial crop yield. PloS one. 2020 Jun 26;15(6):e0234546.
  • Alexander HM, Barnes C‡, Timm RM, Sikes BA. Mammalian soil disturbance, plant cover, and soil nitrogen in a prairie restoration. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. 2020 May;123(1-2):179-90.
  • Bufford JL, Hulme PE, Sikes BA, Cooper JA, Johnston PR, Duncan RP. Novel interactions between alien pathogens and native plants increase plant–pathogen network connectance and decrease specialization. Journal of Ecology. 2020 Mar;108(2):750-60.
  • McKenna TP, Crews TE, Kemp L, Sikes BA. Community structure of soil fungi in a novel perennial crop monoculture, annual agriculture, and native prairie reconstruction. PloS one. 2020 Jan 30;15(1):e0228202.
  • Jacob R. Hopkins, Tatiana A. Semenova-Nelsen, Jean M. Huffman, Neil J. Jones, Kevin M. Robertson, William J. Platt, Benjamin A. Sikes
  • Semenova-Nelsen, T. A., Platt, W. J., Patterson, T. R., Huffman, J., and Sikes, B. A. 2019. Frequent fire reorganizes fungal communities and slows decomposition across a heterogeneous pine savanna landscape. New Phytologist.
  • Bufford, J. L., Hulme, P. E., Sikes, B. A., Cooper, J. A., Johnston, P. R., and Duncan, R. P. 2019. Novel interactions between alien pathogens and native plants increase plant-pathogen network connectance and decrease specialization. Journal of Ecology108: 750–760. doi: 10.1111/1365-2745.13293
  • Hansen, P. M., Semenova-Nelsen, T. A., Platt, W. J., and Sikes, B. A. 2019. Recurrent fires do not affect the abundance of soil fungi in a frequently burned pine savanna. Fungal Ecology 42: 100852.
  • Klymiuk, A. A., and Sikes, B. A. 2019. Suppression of root-endogenous fungi in persistently inundated Typha roots. Mycologia 111(5): 748--757.
  • 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.