Hunting native fungi in Louisiana wetlands

I'm Pedro Santos, an Assistant Professor of Agriculture at Louisiana State University of Alexandria (LSUA), located in the heart of Central Louisiana.

I came to Louisiana from Brazil, where I spent over two decades studying plant diseases, fungi, and biodiversity. Now I'm falling in love with a whole new ecosystem, the Louisiana bayous, wetlands, and agricultural landscapes are extraordinary, and I'm convinced they hold biological treasures we haven't even discovered yet.

My current EcoLeader focus is the LSUA BioControl Discovery Lab, where my undergraduate students and I collect native fungi from local bayous and wetlands and screen them for their ability to control plant diseases naturally — reducing our dependence on chemical fungicides and protecting the ecological balance of the ecosystems around us. We just submitted our NWF EcoLeaders Project Certification application and couldn't be more excited to be part of this community!

My goals here are to connect with educators, conservationists, and researchers working at the intersection of biodiversity and sustainable agriculture, share what we discover in Louisiana's native ecosystems, and find collaborators who care about protecting wildlife through science-based solutions.

Fun fact: My best field guides to Louisiana's bayous aren't books, they're my own students, born and raised along these waterways, who know exactly where to find the most ecologically rich sampling sites. Science is always better when local knowledge leads the way.