A5039934979- Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation
- Physiological and biochemical adaptations
- Plant and animal studies
- Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Bacteriophages and microbial interactions
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Fish Ecology and Management Studies
- Gut microbiota and health
- Marine and coastal ecosystems
- Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
- Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Scientific Computing and Data Management
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Aquatic Invertebrate Ecology and Behavior
- Bacterial biofilms and quorum sensing
- Ecosystem dynamics and resilience
- Simulation Techniques and Applications
- Metabolomics and Mass Spectrometry Studies
- Heavy metals in environment
- Protist diversity and phylogeny
- Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Advanced Statistical Methods and Models
- Plant Virus Research Studies
University of Exeter
2015-2025
Sustainability Institute
2020-2025
Institute for Sustainability
2023
Abstract Quantifying thermal performance curves (TPCs) for biological rates has many applications to important problems such as predicting responses of systems—from individuals communities—to directional climate change or climatic fluctuations. Current software tools fitting TPC models data are not adequate dealing with the immense size new datasets that increasingly becoming available. We require capable tackling this issue in a simple, reproducible and accessible way. present new, pipeline...
There exists an enormous diversity of bacteria capable human infection, but no up-to-date, publicly accessible list is available. Combining a pragmatic definition pathogenicity with extensive search strategy, we report 1513 bacterial pathogens known to infect humans described pre-2021. Of these, 73 % were regarded as established (have infected at least three persons in or more references) and 27 putative (fewer than cases). Pathogen species belong 10 phyla 24 classes scattered throughout the...
With rising antibiotic resistance, there has been increasing interest in treating pathogenic bacteria with bacteriophages (phage therapy). One limitation of phage therapy is the ease at which can evolve resistance. Negative effects resistance may be mitigated when results reduced bacterial growth and virulence, or coevolves to overcome Resistance evolution its consequences are contingent on bacteria-phage combination their environmental context, making therapeutic outcomes hard predict....
Abstract Interspecific coevolutionary interactions can result in rapid biotic adaptation, but most studies have focused only on species pairs. Here, we (co)evolved five microbial replicate polycultures and monocultures quantified local adaptation. Specifically, growth rate assays were used to determine adaptations of each species’ populations (1) the presence other four general (2) sympatric vs . allopatric communities. We found that did not show an increase net adaptation:ancestral,...
River microbial communities regularly act as the first barrier of defense against spread antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) that enter environmental microbiomes through wastewater. However, how invasion dynamics wastewater-borne ARGs into river biofilm will shift due to climate change with increasing average and peak temperatures remains unknown. Here, we aimed elucidate effects on naturally occurring resistome, well success foreign entering Natural biofilms were grown in a...
Model microbial communities are regularly used to test ecological and evolutionary theory as they easy manipulate have fast generation times, allowing for large-scale, high-throughput experiments. A key assumption most model is that stably coexist, but this rarely tested experimentally. Here we report the (dis)assembly of a five-species community from metacommunity soil microbes can be future Using reciprocal invasion-from-rare experiments show all species coexist demonstrate stable long...
Abstract Lytic bacteriophages (‘phages’) can limit bacterial densities and shape community structure, either directly through lysis or indirectly costs to resistance. However, phages have also been reported no, in some cases even positive, effects on host densities. Here, we investigate the mechanisms behind an increase density Variovorax sp. populations following a fixation of resistance that was maintained after phage extinction. Our results demonstrate genetic trait coinciding with...
Abstract Trophic interactions are important determinants of the structure and functioning ecosystems. Because metabolism consumption rates ectotherms increase sharply with temperature, there major concerns that global warming will strength trophic interactions, destabilizing food webs, altering ecosystem function. We used geothermally warmed streams span an 11°C temperature gradient to investigate interplay between temperature‐driven selection on traits related resource acquisition,...
Relating the temperature dependence of photosynthetic biomass production to underlying metabolic rates in autotrophs is crucial for predicting effects climatic fluctuations on carbon balance ecosystems. We present a mathematical model that links thermal performance curves (TPCs) photosynthesis, respiration, and allocation efficiency exponential growth rate population autotroph cells. Using experiments with green alga, Chlorella vulgaris, we apply show key understanding responses warming at...
A number of experimental studies have demonstrated that phytoplankton can display rapid thermal adaptation in response to warmed environments. While these provide insight into the evolutionary responses single species, they tend employ different techniques. Consequently, our ability compare potential for across different, ecologically relevant, species remains limited. Here, we address this limitation by conducting simultaneous long-term warming experiments with same design on clonal...
Abstract Quantifying variation in ecosystem metabolism is critical to predicting the impacts of environmental change on carbon cycle. We used a metabolic scaling framework investigate how body size and temperature influence phytoplankton community metabolism. tested this using sampled from an outdoor mesocosm experiment, where communities had been either experimentally warmed (+ 4 °C) for 10 years or left at ambient temperature. Warmed differed substantially their taxonomic composition...
Abstract Spatial resource heterogeneity is expected to be a key driver for the evolution of diversity. However, direct empirical support this prediction limited studies carried out in simplified laboratory environments. Here, we investigate how altering spatial potting compost—by addition water and mixing—affects evolutionary diversification bacterial species, Pseudomonas fluorescens , that naturally found environment. There was greater propensity specialists evolve unmanipulated compost,...
Abstract Monitoring postrelease establishment and movement of animals is important in evaluating conservation translocations. We translocated 39 wild pine martens Martes martes (19 females, 20 males) from Scotland to Wales. released them into forested areas with no conspecifics 2015, followed by a second release 2016, alongside the previously animals. used radio‐tracking describe habitat selection. Six (15%) were not re‐encountered during tracking period, which four undertook long‐distance...
Abstract Prokaryotes dominate the Tree of Life, but our understanding macroevolutionary processes generating this diversity is still limited. Habitat transitions are thought to be a key driver prokaryote diversity. However, relatively little known about how prokaryotes successfully transition and persist across environments, these might vary between biomes lineages. Here, we investigate biome specialization in natural populations focal bacterial phylum, Myxococcota, sampled range replicated...
Prokaryote diversity makes up most of the tree life and is crucial to functioning biosphere human health. However, patterns mechanisms prokaryote diversification have received relatively little attention compared animals plants. Adaptive radiation, rapid an ancestor species into multiple ecologically divergent species, a fundamental process by which macrobiological generated. Here, we discuss whether ecological opportunity could lead similar bursts in bacteria. We explore how adaptive...
In an era of unprecedented environmental change, there have been increasing ecological and global public health concerns associated with exposure to anthropogenic pollutants. While is a pressing need remediate polluted ecosystems, human intervention might unwittingly oppose selection for natural detoxification, which primarily carried out by microbes. We test this possibility in the context ubiquitous chemical remediation strategy aimed at targeting metal pollution: addition lime-containing...