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 Areas of interest
·     Plant-microbial interactions
·     Community ecology of mutualisms
·     Soil biodiversity and carbon storage
·     Biodiversity and ecosystem function linkages
·     Community and ecosystem response to global change

Broadly, my group is interested in the biotic and abiotic contexts that shape the composition of ecological communities and the functioning of ecosystems. We use a combination of microcosm experiments, manipulative field experiments, and global-scale observational experiments to explore: 1) the drivers of biodiversity at local and global scales, 2) how fine-scale changes in plant-microbiomes scale to influence community interactions and ecosystem function, and 3) how global change will re-shape interactions among microbial communities, plant communities, plant microbiomes, and ecosystem function. We are conducting most of this work in coastal dune ecosystems along the gulf coast.

What are the drivers of  biodiversity at local and global scales?
Since the time of Wallace and Darwin, global biodiversity patterns have fascinated scientists; however, the most diverse area in the world, the soil, still remains a mystery. To understand the biodiversity and abundance patterns of belowground communities globally, as well as the factors that drive them, we implore macroecological and computational approaches to synthesize across a variety of soil bacterial and fungal communities. This provides us a set of testable hypotheses for drivers of microbial biodiversity.  We then test these hypotheses by conducting a wide-variety of biotic and abiotic drivers in manipulative field experiments. By collaborating within global networks such as the Nutrient Network (NutNet) and Warming and Removal in Mountains (WaRM), as well as experiments established around Mobile, we can unravel the underlying factors driving microbial biodiversity.

Do fine-scale changes in plant microbiomes scale to influence community interactions and ecosystem function across the landscape?
Changes in the composition of microbiome communities can alter plant host phenotype and performance, which can scale to shape plant community dynamics and ecosystem function. Using mesocosm approaches, our group explores how the  diversity and composition of microbiome communities regulate host function. To conduct this work, our group is isolating and maintaining organisms from natural plant microbiomes and maintaining those microbial taxa within our lab. Then we are able to construct synthetic microbiome communities to understand how plant-microbiome and microbe-microbe interactions shape plant host function.

How will global change re-shape interactions among microbial communities, hosts, and ecosystem function? 
Global change alters plant productivity, carbon allocation to symbionts, and ecosystem inputs, which feedback to alter the structure and function of belowground symbiotic communities. To explore how global change is re-shaping the distribution of plant and soil communities and the subsequent feedback to community composition and ecosystem function, our group has established a wide variety of global change experiments in and around Mobile. We are interested in understanding how a wide variety of global change drivers, like eutrophication, habitat disturbance, drought, disease outbreaks, changes in herbivore density, and warming will shape the structure and function of ecosystems.

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Porath-Krause, A., Strauss, A.T., Henning, J.A., Seabloom, E.W., & Borer, E.T. Accepted. Pitfalls of next generation sequencing in ecological approaches. Methods in Ecology & Evolution.

Wilfhart, P., Asmus, A.L., Seabloom, E.W., Henning J.A., Adler, P., Arnillas, C.A., Bakker, J.D., Biederman, L., Brudvig, L.A., Cadotte, M., Daleo, P., Eskelinen, A., Firn, J., Harpole, W.S., Hautier, Y., Kirkman, K.P., Komatsu, K.J., Laungani, R., MacDougall, A., McCulley, R.L., Moore, J.L., Morgan, J.W., Mortensen, B., Ochoa Hueso, R., Ohlert, T., Power, S.A., Price, J., Risch, A.C., Schuetz, M., Shoemaker, L., Stevens, C., Strauss, A.T., Tognetti, P.M., Virtanen, R., Borer, E.T. 2021 Temporal rarity is a better predictor of local extinction risk than spatial rarity. Ecology.

Rewcastle, K.E., Henning, J.A., Read, Q.D., Irwin, R., Sanders, N.J., Classen, A.T. In press. Plant species removal decreases the magnitude of and variation in nitrogen mineralization. Ecology.

Lekberg, Y., Arnilla, C.A., Borer, E.T., Bullington, L.S., Fierer, N., Kennedy, P.G., Leff, J.W., Luis, A.D., Seabloom, E.W., Henning, J.A. 2021. Eutrophication changes the relative abundance of fungal pathogens and mutualists but not saprotrophs in grasslands worldwide. Nature Communications.

Prager, C.M., Jing, X., Henning, J.A., Read, Q.D., Meidl**, P., Lavorel, S., Sanders, N.J., Sundqvist, M., Wardle, D.A., & Classen, A.T. 2021. Climate and multiple dimensions of plant diversity regulate ecosystem carbon exchange along an elevational gradient. Ecosphere.

Kohli, M., Henning, J.A., Borer, E.T., Kinkel, L., & Seabloom, E.S. 2020. Foliar fungi and plant diversity drive ecosystem carbon fluxes in experimental prairies. Ecology Letters.

Henning, J.A., Kinkel L., May, G., Seabloom, E.W., Borer, E.T. 2020. Plant diversity mediates foliar endophyte fungal diversity response to nutrient addition. Ecology.

Strauss, A.T., Henning, J.A., Porath-Krause, A., Asmus, A., Shaw, A.K., Borer, E.T., Seabloom, E.W. 2020. Vector demography, dispersal, and the spatial spread of disease: Fitting models to experimental epidemics under elevated resource supply. Functional Ecology.

Wood, S., Henning, J.A., McKibben, T., Chen, L., Smith, M.L., Weber, M., Zemenick, A., & Ballen, C.J. Accepted. A scientist like me: demographic analysis of biology textbooks reveals both progress and long-term lags. Proc. B.

Rewcastle, K.E., Moore, J.A.M., Henning, J.A., Mayes, M.A., Patterson, C.M., Wang, G., Metcalfe D.B., Classen, A.T. 2020.  Investigating drivers of microbial activity and carbon mineralization in a forested bog. Pedosphere.

Henning, J.A., Ballen, C.J., Molina**, S. Cotner, S. 2019. Multi-faceted student identities demand multi-faceted teaching techniques. Frontiers in Education.

Co-PI, National Science Foundation – IUSE:EHR: Envisioning equitable biology (EEB) through open-source course modules, October 2021-September 2024. 

PI, National Science Foundation – EHR Core Research, BCSER: Understanding how student identities shape STEM retention: exploring perceptions of in-class interpersonal relationships, institutional inclusivity, and discipline inclusivity. August 2020-July 2022.

Co-PI, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Eloranta fellowship. 2017

PI, US National Science Foundation East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute fellowship 2014