Biodiversity Blog

Monday, 05 December 2022

Diving Deep into Microbes

When you think of microbes, what are the first things that come to mind? Disease, pathogens, the same old boring things, but microbes are so much more than that! They produce the air that we breathe and the food that we eat. They live as high as our upper atmosphere and as low as the depths of the ocean, and everywhere in between. In this talk...

Monday, 07 November 2022

Meet Stengl-Wyer Fellow: Kathryn Appler

Presenting research at the 18th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME18) in Lausanne, Switzerland. Kathryn Appler is one of our 2022 Stengl-Wyer Fellows. She is a Marine Science Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Brett Baker's Lab where she studies the diversity and ecological role of Asgard Archaea. Kathryn took time from her busy re...

Friday, 28 October 2022

The Power of the Unseen Majority – How Soil Microbes Shape the Nature We See

 Indeterminate nodules growing on the roots of Medicago italica (Photo: Ningatacoshell) Do you like mushrooms or beans? Have you heard of companion planting or intercropping? The common theme uniting these two seemingly unrelated questions is soil microbes. You have (likely) not seen them, but they are everywhere and play a crucial role in ...