The Ecological Society of America on Wednesday announced recipients of its 2026 fellowship awards. Claire Willing, a University of Washington assistant professor of environmental and forest science, was named an Early Career Fellow, which recognizes scientists for contributions to advancing and applying ecological knowledge within eight years of completing a doctorate.
Willing studies how microbes respond, and help plants cope with, environmental change. Her lab focuses on fungi and other microbes living near plant roots. Much like the gut microbiome, these communities play a critical role in plant nutrition, immune function and overall forest health.
Willing’s lab focuses on understanding these communities and how they are shifting with climate change. Her research integrates methods from various scientific disciplines to gain insight into the ecosystem-wide impact of fungi.
“I work across pretty diverse fields, from fungal ecology to plant and forest ecology,” Willing said. “Integrating everything together is challenging, but I think it’s a critical intersection to study right now and this award is a nice acknowledgement of that.”
As a Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center Faculty Fellow, Willing also collaborates with federal, state and tribal agencies to incorporate fungi into climate adaptation planning.
Many of her lab’s projects examine responses to climate change. For example, one of Willing’s current grad students is studying fungi in post-fire ecosystems.
Some fungal groups are fire-adapted, meaning that they can withstand wildfire better than others. After wildfire, the soil often becomes hydrophobic, which causes water to run off the surface instead of soaking in. This increases the risk of erosion, among other consequences. Fungi help seedlings to establish and stabilize the soil by helping it retain water.
Early findings from her lab indicate that prolonged fire suppression, a stewardship strategy intended to minimize wildfire impacts, can limit microorganisms fire tolerance, which then exacerbates the damage caused by a fire.
“There are lots of different nuances that we’re really just starting to understand,” Willing said.
She hopes this work can help inform future forest management practices. Although there are many mushroom enthusiasts in the Pacific Northwest, Willing is one of few scientists in the region studying how these organisms fold into broader ecosystems.
Most of the data on microbial communities was collected within the past 20 years or so, which makes it difficult to gauge how these organisms are responding to climate change. Another project in Willing’s lab involves conducting genetic analyses on preserved plant specimens to establish a baseline for fungal health.
“Our understanding of what fungal and bacterial communities were like before the onset of rapid warming is really limited,” Willing said.
Building this baseline will help researchers see how microbial communities are evolving and reveal management opportunities.
Without fungi, life on Earth couldn’t exist as we know it. Dead logs and fallen leaves would simply accumulate, with nothing to break them down and return their nutrients to the soil.
“Fungi are involved in everything,” Willing said. “In the cycle of life, they are at the beginning, helping plants to take root across every ecosystem on Earth, and at the end, helping to create lush soils for future life to flourish.”
ESA will acknowledge and celebrate fellows during a ceremony on July 27 at the annual meeting in Salt Lake City. Early Career Fellows are elected for five years.
For more information about her work, contact Willing at willingc@uw.edu.