Maria Faticov

I  am ecologist, focusing on microbes in various plant compartments (phyllosphere, rhizosphere), soils, deadwood and across diverse environments, including temperate and boreal forests as well as urban landscapes. My work investigates how abiotic (including climate change and urbanization) and biotic factors (host characteristics and microbe-microbe interactions) shape microbial communities, addressing key questions about the processes that drive microbial diversity, community assembly, functions and plant-microbe interactions.

Currently, I am working on the project that explores how different deadwood restoration treatments and tree species shape multitrophic community assembly by analyzing co-occurrence patterns and interaction networks between fungi and saproxylic beetles.

2016 – 2021                       PhD, Ecology and Evolution, Stockholm University, Sweden

2012 – 2015                      MSc, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Helsinki University,Finland.

2008 – 2012                      BSc in Ecology, Environment and Sustainable Management, National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”, Kyiv, Ukraine

2025

1.     Valdés-Correcher, E., Kadiri, Y., Bourdin, A., Mrazova, A., Bălăcenoiu, F., Branco, M., Bogdziewicz, M., Bjørn, M.C., Damestoy, T., Dobrosavljević, J., M., Faticov, […] & Castagneyrol, B. 2025. Effects of climate on leaf phenolics, insect herbivory, and their relationship in pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) across its geographic range in Europe. Oecologia, 207(4), 1-13. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-025-05696-2

2.     Enea, M., Beauregard, J., De Bellis, T., Faticov, M# and Laforest-Lapointe, I#, 2025. The temperate forest phyllosphere and rhizosphere microbiome: a case study of sugar maple. Frontiers in Microbiology, 15, p.1504444.10.3389/fmicb.2024.1504444/abstract

2024

3.     Faticov, M#., J. H., Amorim, A., Abdelfattah, L. J. A. van Dijk, A. C. Carvalho, I. Laforest-Lapointe and A. J. M. Tack. 2024. Local climate, air quality and leaf litter cover shape foliar fungal communities on an urban tree. Ambio, 53(11), pp.1673-1685. 10.1007/s13280-024-02041-4

4.     Faticov, M*#., Chamard, J*., F. G. Blanchet, P-L., Chagnon and I., Laforest-Lapointe. 2024. Interplay of biotic and abiotic factors shapes tree seedling growth and root-associated microbial communities. Communications Biology, 7(1), p.360. www.nature.com/articles/s42003-024-06042-7

5.     Ishak, S*., Rondeau-Leclaire, J*., M. Faticov, S. Roy, and I., Laforest-Lapointe. 2024. Boreal moss-microbe associations across host species and gametophyte sections are revealed through metagenome assembly of novel bacterial species. Scientific Reports, 14(1), p.22168. 10.1038/s41598-024-73045-z

6.     Hoefle, D*., Sommer, M*., B. Wassermann, M. Faticov, D. Serra, G. Berg, A J. M. Tack and A. Abdelfattah. 2024. Oak seedling microbiome assembly under climate warming and drought. Environmental Microbiome 19, no. 1 (62).10.1186/s40793-024-00602-4

7.     Gaytán, Á., Van Dijk, L.J., Faticov, M., Barr, A.E. and Tack, A.J., 2024. The effect of local habitat and spatial connectivity on urban seed predation. American Journal of Botany, 111(5), p.e16333. 10.1002/ajb2.16333

8.     Schillé, L., Valdés‐Correcher, E., Archaux, F., Bălăcenoiu, F., Bjørn, M.C., Bogdziewicz, M., Boivin, T., Branco, M., Damestoy, T., de Groot, M. and Dobrosavljević, J., […] M., Faticov […] & Castagneyrol, B. 2024. Decomposing drivers in avian insectivory: Large‐scale effects of climate, habitat and bird diversity. Journal of Biogeography, 51(6), pp.1079-1094. 10.1111/jbi.14808

2023

9.     Faticov, M#., A. Abdelfattah, P. Hambäck, T. Roslin and A. J. M. Tack. 2023. Different spatial structure of plant‐associated fungal communities above‐and belowground. Ecology and Evolution, 13(5), p.e10065.

2022

10.  Faticov, M#., M.-L. Desprez-Loustau, L. Kiss, M. Massot, J. Faivre d’Arcier, J. Mutz, M. Z. Németh, T. Roslin and A. J. M. Tack. 2022. Niche differentiation within a cryptic pathogen complex: climatic drivers and hyperparasitism at multiple spatial scales. Ecography, e06062. 10.1111/ecog.06062

11.  Gaytán, Á, A. Abdelfattah, M. Faticov, X. Moreira, B. Castagneyrol, I. Van Halder, P. De Frenne, C. Meeussen, B. G. H. Timmermans, J. P. J. G. Ten Hoopen, P. U. Rasmussen, N. Bos, R. Jaatinen, P. Pulkkinen, S. Söderlund, K. Gotthard, K. Pawlowski and A. J. M. Tack. 2022. Changes in the foliar fungal community between oak leaf flushes along a latitudinal gradient in Europe. Journal of Biogeography 49, pp. 2269–2280. 10.1111/jbi.14508

12.  van Dijk, L. J. A., X. Moreira, A. E. Barr, L. Abdala-Roberts, B. Castagneyrol, M. Faticov, B. Hardwick, J. P. J. G. ten Hoopen, R. de la Mata, R. Matheus Pires, T. Roslin, D. S. Schigel, B. G. H. Timmermans and A. J. M. Tack. 2022. Urbanization affects oak–pathogen interactions across spatial scales. Ecography 2022, e06091. 10.1111/ecog.06091

13.  Ekholm, A., M. Faticov, A. J. M. Tack and T. Roslin. 2022. Herbivory in a changing climate – effects of plant genotype and experimentally-induced variation in plant phenology on two summer-active lepidopteran herbivores and one fungal pathogen. Ecology and Evolution 12, e8495. 10.1002/ece3.8495 

14.  Valdés-Correcher, E., A. Popova, A. Galmán, A. Prinzing, A. V. Selikhovkin, A. G. Howe, A. Mrazova, A.-M. Dulaurent, … and B. Castagneyrol (M. Faticov, among 40 + other alphabetical authors). 2022. Herbivory on the pedunculate oak along an urbanization gradient in Europe: effects of impervious surface, local tree cover and insect feeding guild. Ecology and Evolution 12, e8709. 10.1002/ece3.8709

2021

15.  Faticov, M#., A. Abdelfattah, T. Roslin, C. Vacher, P. Hambäck, F. G. Blanchet, B. D. Lindahl and A. J. M. Tack. 2021. Climate warming dominates over plant genotype in shaping the seasonal trajectory of foliar fungal communities on oak. New Phytologist 231, pp. 1770–1783. 10.1111/nph.17434

16.  Ekholm, A., M. Faticov, A. J. M. Tack, J. Berger, G. N. Stone, E. Vesterinen and T. Roslin. 2021. Community phenology of insects on oak – local differentiation along a climatic gradient. Ecosphere 12, e03785. 10.1002/ecs2.3785

17.  Valdés-Correcher, E., X. Moreira, L. Augusto, L. Barbaro, C. Bouget, O. Bouriaud, M. Branco, … and B Castagneyrol (M. Faticov, among 30 + other alphabetical authors). 2021. Search for top-down and bottom-up drivers of latitudinal trends in insect herbivory in oak trees in Europe. Global Ecology and Biogeography 30, pp. 651–665.10.1111/geb.13244

2014 & 2020

18.  Faticov, M#., A. Ekholm, T. Roslin and A. J. M. Tack. 2020. Climate and host genotype jointly shape tree phenology, disease levels and insect attacks. Oikos 129, pp. 391–401. 10.1111/oik.06707

19.  Faticov, M#., G., Stahls and D., Schigel. 2014. A new trapping method for fungivorous insects. Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft, 88 (1/2), pp. 23–28. 10.5169/seals-514990