Sample interview questions: How do you approach designing and implementing experiments to study the impact of climate change on fungal communities?
Sample answer:
- Gather baseline data: Before assessing the impact of climate change, you need to establish a baseline understanding of the fungal community in your study area. This includes identifying the species present, their relative abundances, and their roles in the ecosystem.
- Select appropriate study sites: Choose sites that are likely to be affected by climate change, such as areas that are warming or experiencing changes in precipitation patterns. You should also select control sites that are not expected to be affected by climate change.
- Design experiments: Design experiments that will allow you to measure the impact of climate change on fungal communities. This could involve manipulating temperature, precipitation, or other environmental factors and measuring the response of the fungal community.
- Collect data: Collect data on the fungal community at regular intervals to assess changes over time. This could involve collecting soil samples, conducting field surveys, or extracting DNA from environmental samples for sequencing.
- Analyze data: Analyze the data to identify changes in the fungal community over time. This could involve using statistical methods to compare the fungal community in experimental and control sites or using bioinformatics tools to identify chang… Read full answer