Protist Ecology

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Most large eukaryotes¿hosts¿are colonized by microbial symbionts. These symbionts often profoundly impact the health and biology of their host, for example by defending against disease or altering growth and development. My research uses surveys, experiments, and data synthesis to identify symbionts, determine their distribution, and understand their functional roles. Are they unique to a particular host species or widespread across hosts and their environment? Can many symbionts substitute to perform a given function? Knowing their distribution, we can then investigate the consequences of symbiosis for microbial ecology and evolution across the tree of life.