Life Sciences Seminar: Using ecology to deconstruct pandemics and build healthy amphibian microbiomes
Life Sciences Seminar
Microbial Assembly: Using ecology to deconstruct pandemics and build healthy amphibian microbiomes
Dr. Elle Barnes
Assistant Professor
Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences, RIT
Abstract:
Amphibians are currently the most endangered group of animals on the planet due to climate change, habitat degradation, and the global spread of wildlife disease. These stressors have been linked to changes in the structure of the amphibian microbiome through pathogen invasion and microbial dysbiosis, which can have deadly consequences for host fitness. However, it is often difficult to predict whether these microbiome disturbances represent fluctuations around a single stable equilibrium or reflect switching from one alternative equilibrium to another. When alternative equilibria exist, microbial communities may rarely recover to a healthy state once they enter an unhealthy one. These alternative equilibria are caused by priority effects, where the history of species arrival dictates how species affect one another via resource competition and other local interactions. In the MEGA (Microbial Ecology & Genomics in Amphibians) lab at RIT, we ask BIG questions about tiny organisms. When does history matter for the assembly of disease-resistant amphibian microbiomes? By combining genomics and ecological theory, we explore how human-induced environmental degradation and pathogen spread can drive the persistence of alternative states of microbial diversity with important consequences for function.
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Barnes is a new Assistant Professor at RIT. She is a New York native who got her BA in Environmental Studies at New York University and her PhD in Biological Sciences at Fordham University. After graduating, she moved to Berkeley, California to take a job with the US Department of Energy at the Joint Genome Institute, which is a premier institution for the advancement of microbial genomics. Throughout her career, her research has focused on host-associated microbial communities asking “how do the microbes in, on, and around plants and animals influence their ability to function and thrive?”
Intended Audience:
Beginners, undergraduates, graduates, experts. Those with interest in the topic.
To request an interpreter, please visit myaccess.rit.edu
Event Snapshot
When and Where
Who
Open to the Public
Interpreter Requested?
No