Trait-based approaches to microbial ecology and evolution

Elena Litchman

Elena Litchman is an MSU Foundation professor in the Department of Integrative Biology and Kellogg Biological Station at Michigan State University (USA). She is interested in community ecology and evolution of phytoplankton, major primary producers in lakes and oceans, including how they respond to global environmental change. She has been developing trait-based approaches to phytoplankton and, more recently, to other microbes, including gut microbiota. In her seminar Elena will discuss how focussing on traits provides novel insights into the physiological, ecological and evolutionary responses of phytoplankton to warming and other global change stressors. She will also discuss trait-based community assembly in bacterioplankton and the mammalian gut microbiomes.

Recent publications:

Guittar J, A Shade and E Litchman. 2019. Trait-based succession and community assembly of the infant gut microbiome. Nature Communications 10: 512.

O’Donnell DR, E Johnson, C Hamman, CT Kremer, CA Klausmeier and E Litchman. 2018. Rapid thermal adaptation in a marine diatom reveals constraints and trade-offs. Global Change Biology 24: 4554-4565.

Edwards KF, CT Kremer, ET Miller, MM Osmond, E Litchman and CA Klausmeier. 2018. Evolutionarily stable communities: a framework for understanding the role of trait evolution in the maintenance of diversity. Ecology Letters 21: 1853-1868.

Thomas MK, M Aranguren-Gassis, CT Kremer, MR Gould, K Anderson, CA Klausmeier and E Litchman. 2017. Temperature-nutrient interactions exacerbate sensitivity to warming in phytoplankton. Global Change Biology 23: 3269–3280.

litchman@msu.edu