Dr. Mary Carrington is a plant ecologist. She is fascinated by the natural world, and interested in learning how things work. Research in plant ecology allows her to follow these interests, and to mentor students as they learn to be scientists. Most of her current research is conducted in tallgrass prairies--either natural prairies or prairie restorations constructed from former agricultural fields. Tallgrass prairie historically was the most widespread natural ecosystem in Illinois, but now less than 1% remains. To succeed in restoring tallgrass prairie to Illinois, one need to understand how the prairie works as an ecosystem, including how plant species interact with each other, how plant species interact with insects and other animal species, and how soil microbiota interact with species aboveground.

Her research is to understand how plant species interact with each other, measuring functional traits of important tallgrass prairie plant species, and using those functional traits to predict which plant species should be abundant in prairie restorations of different ages. In research with undergraduate and graduate students, they are exploring interactions between prairie plant species and insect pollinators—a very important topic because honeybees and other insect pollinators are currently declining in number. And a third major research topic addresses how mycorrhizal fungi, an important soil mutualism (fungi growing inside plant roots) influence plant growth and competition aboveground.