Microbes impact ecosystems everywhere.
What controls the progression and composition of phytoplankton blooms in the Great Lakes?
Phytoplankton sit at the base of aquatic food webs, and the timing and composition of their blooms ripple through everything from water clarity to fisheries productivity. We track bloom communities across the Great Lakes using a mix of field sampling, microscopy, and biogeochemical measurements, looking for what tips a community toward one taxon over another.
How do microbes impact concentrations of water contaminants and dissolved elements?
Aquifers host active microbial communities that quietly determine what ends up in the water we pump out of the ground — including elements like manganese that shift between dissolved and particulate forms depending on microbial activity. We study the microbial pathways that drive these transformations and how they scale up to shape water quality.
Deconstructing mathematical models into their molecular components.
Mathematical models of ecosystems are often built from equations with little connection to the organisms and molecules actually driving them. We work to ground those models in real biology — using omics data, careful unit conversions, and sequencing and mass spectrometry measurements to connect model parameters back to the microbial mechanisms behind them.
Interested in a project or collaboration?
We partner with ecologists, molecular biologists, watershed managers, and public agencies. If our work overlaps with yours, we'd love to hear from you.