Microbial Community Ecology

Date	Topic	Required readings	Additional readings for the well-read microbial ecologist	Discussion Leaders
Aug. 25	Introduction to microbial community ecology - Defining communities, assemblages, populations (handout)	Forney et al. 2004 Prosser et al. 2007	Overview of common community DNA "fingerprint" methods	Angela Kent
Sept. 1	No class - Labor Day
Sept. 8	Microbial diversity - Causes/consequences of diversity	Horner-Devine et al. 2004 Fierer et al. 2006	Curtis et al. 2004; Azam et al. 2007; Fuhrman et al. 2008	Ariane Peralta Sara Paver
Sept. 15	Community assembly	Fukami et al. 2003 Horner-Devine et al. 2007	Leibold et al. 2004 (recommended for the presenters)	Andrea Skinner Fatemah Hermes
Sept. 22	Microbial communication - quorum sensing, fruiting body formation	Keller et al. 2006 Diggle et al. 2007	Xavier et al. 2007	Jen Brulc Fatemah Hermes
Sept. 29	Biofilm formation	Jackson et al. 2001 Battin et al. 2007	Nikolaev et al. 2007	Yu-rui Chang Glen Menezes
Oct. 6	Microbial interactions - Mutualism, Competition, Predation, Food webs	Hay et al. 2004 Thrall et al. 2007		Glen Menezes Tony Yannarell
Oct. 13	Plant-microbe interactions (fungal and bacterial)	Kiers et al. 2003 Bouwmeester et al. 2007	Reynolds et al. 2003 de Boer et al. 2005	Cassandra Allsup Jen Brulc
Oct. 20	Functional redundancy	Rosenfeld et al. 2002 Yannarell et al. 2007	Petchey et al. 2006	Carly Hill Kim Milferstedt
Oct. 27	Spatial patterning - spatial scale, biogeography	Green et al. 2006 Fierer et al. 2007	Fierer and Jackson 2006 Martiny et al. 2006; O'Malley 2007	Emily Wheeler Ariane Peralta
Nov. 3	Temporal patterns, microbial community dynamics	Kent et al. 2007	Trosvik et al. 2008 van der Gast et al. 2008	Sara Paver Cassandra Allsup
Nov. 10	Succession	Lyautey et al. 2005	Jackson 2003 Jackson et al. 2001	Emily Wheeler Neil Gottel
Nov. 17	Microbial response to disturbance	Botton et al. 2006, and Bressan et al. 2008 or Jones et al. 2008		Yu-rui Chang Carly Hill
Nov. 24	No class - Thanksgiving break
Dec. 1	Microbial response to land use - investigating legacy effects	Fraterrigo et al. 2006 Zhang et al. 2007	Holtkamp et al. 2008 Kulmatiski et al. 2008	Rick Lankau Kim Milferstedt
Dec. 8	Microbial response to biological invasions	Broz et al. 2007 van der Putten et al. 2007	Hawkes et al. 2005	Neil Gottel Andrea Skinner