Research
Disease Ecology
The lab approaches fundamental questions of how potential invertebrate vectors interact with known pathogens and suspected symbionts that mediate disease spread and pathogen transmission. We also conduct field surveys and experiments that test how changing environmental conditions mediate the interactions of vectors, hosts, their microbial communities and habitat templates influence disease emergence and outbreaks. Recent work is investigating how habitat microbial communities affect the behavior and life history of mosquitoes and if mosquito microbiomes vary with species and populations over space and time.
Aquatic Ecology
The lab asks both basic and applied aquatic ecology questions in stream and wetland ecosystems. Recent efforts are focused on testing how organic matter resources from riparian forests affect network linkages among aquatic macroinvertebrate and microbial communities. We conduct field studies with nested manipulation experiments to discover how changing the quality and quantity of organic matter mediates the microbial community ecology of macroinvertebrates at individual, population and community levels of biological organization. Other studies address the role organic matter microbes affect the fitness of aquatic insects.
Carrion & Forensic Ecology
The lab conducts both laboratory and field research into interactions of organisms such as microbes and insects during the decomposition of animal carrion, including humans. We ask basic ecological research questions that have direct application to forensic investigation. Recent efforts are focused on surveying the microbial communities of human cadavers, or the postmortem microbiome, and how they can be used to estimate a time since death, a manner of death and other aspects of a death investigation. Other studies are directed at understanding how microbial communities of a carcass change in response to insects that colonize them.
Insects as Food and Feed
With a growing global human population comes a challenge to feed that population. An expanding and highly sustainable approach is to use insects that convert organic material into feed, releasing the harvesting pressure on fish and livestock around the world. This line of research focuses on understanding the relationships of insects and microbes for improving using insects as food and feed for a growing global population.
News and Announcments
New paper out on the human postmortem microbiome.
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Pechal, JL, CJ Schmidt, HR Jordan, . 2018. A large-scale survey of the postmortem human microbiome, and its potential to provide insight into the living health condition. Nature Scientific Reports 8:5724
DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-23989-w
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Collaborative work:
Vizza, C, JL Pechal, ME Benbow, JM Lang, DT Chaloner, SE Jones, GA Lamberti. 2018. Nitrate amendment reduces biofilm biomass and shifts microbial communities in remote, oligotrophic ponds. Freshwater Science (in press). DOI:10.1086/697897
