Jennifer B. Hughes
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Stanford University

Research on the relationship between biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and human well-being has advanced rapidly in the past two decades. Most of this research focuses on terrestrial plant communities, yet microbes make up by far the largest fraction of metabolic and genetic diversity on the planet. Therefore, ignoring microbial diversity will hinder our ability to predict how anthropogenic disturbances such as nutrient inputs, land-use changes, and climate change will impact natural ecosystems.

Even with huge recent advancements in the methods for surveying microbial diversity, microbiologists are still essentially at the stage of natural history characterization. Thus, a goal of my lab’s research is to apply and develop ecological and evolutionary theory for microbial ecology. Ultimately, we would like to understand how microbial diversity affects ecosystem functioning. Currently our research addresses three interrelated themes:

• DISTRIBUTION. We know little about how or why microbial diversity varies among locations. To address this gap, my lab is studying the application of statistical methods and conceptual models from classical biogeography to characterize the background distribution of microbial diversity.

• MECHANISMS. We use microcosm and field experiments to tease apart the underlying mechanisms that create, influence, and maintain microbial diversity. Understanding these mechanisms is essential in order to predict how microbial diversity will respond in the face of environmental changes, whether natural or anthropogenic.

• CONSEQUENCES. Many studies document that ecosystem processes vary over time and space along with differences in microbial composition; however, experiments are needed to investigate the degree to which microbial diversity affects ecosystem processes. To address this question, we conduct microcosm and greenhouse experiments as well as developing techniques to manipulate microbial composition in the field.

Given the breadth of these questions and approaches, my lab studies a variety of taxonomic groups (from viruses to bacteria and fungi), in a variety of systems (from laboratory microcosms to salt marshes and the open ocean). This flexibility allows us to choose tractable settings for each particular question, as well as to test the generality of our results.

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