Animals evolved in a microbial world, and today nearly every lineage of animal engages in symbioses with microorganisms. The guiding question of my research program is to understand how microbial symbionts shape the ecology and evolution of their vertebrate hosts. To this end, I employ a combination of –omics approaches, innovative gnotobiotic experimental systems, and natural history studies, with a focus on dissecting how host-microbe interactions shape vertebrate phenotypes in nature.

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Updates

• April 2022. Spending the summer conducting gnotobiotic experiments at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology.
• February 2022. New paper on microbiome effects on host diet selection published in PNAS.
• ​​October 2021. New paper how glucocorticoids affect the  gut microbiome of lizards published in Molecular Ecology.
• August 2021. Presented new research on the potential function of the Blackpoll Warbler gut microbiome at our avian microbiome symposium for the 2021 AOS meeting.
• July 2020. Started Rose Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Cornell University!

Featured Publications​

The gut microbiome influences host diet selection behavior

Conservation biology needs a microbial renaissance: a call for the consideration of host-associated microbiota in wildlife management practices.

In ovo microbial communities: a potential mechanism for the initial acquisition of gut microbiota among oviparous birds and lizards

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