Protist Ecology

大多数大型真核生物的宿主都被微生物共生体定植。这些共生体通常深刻地影响其宿主的健康和生物学，例如通过防御疾病或改变生长和发育。我的研究使用调查，实验和数据合成来识别共生体，确定它们的分布，并了解它们的功能角色。它们是特定宿主物种所特有的，还是在宿主及其环境中广泛存在？许多共生体可以替代执行给定的功能吗？了解了它们的分布，我们就可以研究共生对微生物生态和进化的影响。

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.