Ari Jumpponen

Ari Jumpponen is a University Distinguished Professor and Associate Director of the Division of Biology at Kansas State University, recognized as an expert in fungal ecology and soil microbiome research. Since joining K-State in the early 2000s, he has spearheaded studies on how environmental changes particularly fire regimes, land use, and urbanization shape fungal and bacterial communities. A pioneer in applying high-throughput sequencing to characterize fungal communities in plant and soil samples, his research often intersects with plant ecology to understand host-microbe interactions. Jumpponen has published on a variety of topics including grassland ecology, dark septate endophytes, and successional ecosystems.