For his undergraduate thesis, Axel aims to combine his passion for fungi and plant anatomy by studying the impact of bark beetle infestations on populations of Pinus hartwegii in the Nevado de Colima. Bark beetles infest large stands of pines, leading to widespread tree mortality.

Although the precise mechanisms underlying tree death are not fully understood, it is known that bark beetles transport fungal hyphae on their bodies and introduce them into the host tree during colonization. Through Axel’s project, we seek to understand how the infection process unfolds—specifically, which plant tissues become colonized and how the resulting anatomical and physiological alterations contribute to tree decline and eventual death.

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