In the Brown Lab we study how microbes influence ecology and evolution in marine systems. Our work falls into four major categories:
Variation in species response to stressors at microbial scale, organismal and population scales. Currently we are thinking about stressors in terms of disease and thermal stress in seagrass and coral systems
Incorporating microbes in our understanding of species interactions. Currently we are thinking about this concept in terms of facilitation and inhibition of settlement, competition between sessile organisms, and the feedback between the regional pool of microbes and sessile organisms.
How does previous exposure environment modulate a species response?And is this mediated by microbes? Here we couple variation in species stressor responses and microbes to future responses in corals and seagrasses.
What are the indirect, community wide effects mediated by variation in species traits? Variation in traits, particularly if they are heritable and or genetically determined, can lead to different community trajectories. I am eager to explore this direction more in temperate and tropical systems.