Professional Background:

Research Focus

Marine fungi and their interrelationships with other marine organisms (e.g., algae, molluscs, woodboring isopods)

Along with her husband, Dr. Jan Kohlmeyer, Dr. Kohlmeyer conducts research on all aspects (both structural and functional) of marine fungi, while maintaining a special interest in the classification and preservation of samples of species studied. Their laboratory boasts the largest culture collection and herbarium of marine fungi in the world. The Kohlmeyers recently completed work in the tropics, where they studied marine fungi and their interrelationships with other marine organisms (e.g., algae, molluscs, woodboring isopods) in a broad range of threatened habitats, including coral reefs and mangrove forests. Now the Kohlmeyers are investigating the taxonomy, ecology, and geographical distribution of fungi that live as decomposers on halophytes along the Atlantic Coast of the United States. Placing special emphasis on North Carolina's coastal marshlands, they have discovered more than 100 species, several new genera, and a new family of microfungi on the needlerush Juncus. Phylogenetic studies on marine fungi are also conducted with molecular techniques in cooperation with several other institutions.