Main Page

Lennon Lab: Microbial Ecology and Evolution

Research in the Lennon Lab focuses on the factors that generate and maintain microbial diversity in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

We study how environmental variability structures microbial communities, and how this in turn affects ecosystem processes.

More information can be found on the lab website

The Lennon Lab is in the Department of Biology at Indiana University

News

2012

• Ariane Peralta received USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Postdoctoral Research grant
• Soil microbes improve plant fitness in novel environments published in PNAS; See press release.
• Jay selected as a Kavli Fellow by National Academy of Sciences.
• Paper on snowfall effects on soil microorganisms to appear in Soil Biology & Biochemistry
• Trina McMahon and Jay to host roundtable at ISME on Frontiers in Microbial Ecosystem Science.
• Kayla Miller joins lab as a Ph.D. student
• Paper on sulfate-dependent denitrification published in Aquatic Microbial Ecology
• Jay presents at the Workshop on Microbial Life Under Extreme Energy Limitation in Aarhus, Denmark
• Paper on 'Integrating microbial ecology into ecosystem models' published in Biogeochemistry
• Jay visits University of Jyväskylä and Konnevesi Field Station in Finland
• David Myrold and Jay organize ESA workshop on "Answering Ecological Questions with Metagenomic Sequencing"
• Jay participates in NIMBioS working group on Ocean Viral Dynamics
• Lab paper on microbial traits and taxonomy published in Ecology
• Mario and Jay receive funding from the Huron Mountain Wildlife Foundation (HMWF) in Michigan's Upper Peninsula
• Powell Center funds working group on "Next Generation Microbial Indicators of Ecosystem Function"
• Jay gives seminar in the Department of Biological Sciences at University of Quebec at Montreal
• Stuart Jones receives Lindeman Award for PNAS paper on dormancy; watch award talk at ASLO in Japan.
• Jay presents lab research at PAG XX
• Visit the new website for our summer course in Microbial Metagenomics
• Paper on whole-wetland stable isotope additions published in Limnology and Oceanography
• NSF funds PEATcosm Experimentto explore plant-microbe interactions and climate change
• Ariane Peralta joins lab as a Postdoctoral Researcher

2011

• Jay gives seminar at Indiana University Department of Biology
• Sarah presents research at the American Geophysical Union meetings
• Jay gives seminar at University of Massachusetts' Department of Microbiology
• Megan gives talk at the Aquatic Virus Workshop in Texel, the Netherlands
• Jay gives seminar at Oregon State University's Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing
• Jay and Sarah present research at the Argonne Soil Metagenoimcs Workshop
• Lab presents research at ESA meetings in Austin, TX
• Jay attends workshop on synthetic biology at the Woodrow Wilson Center
• Follow Mario and Megan's sampling adventures in the Upper Peninsula
• Summer course in Microbial Metagenomics is taught at Michigan State University
• Eco-evolutionary plant-microbial feedback paper with Jen Lau to appear in New Phytologist
• Stable Isotope Probing (SIP) paper with Zach Aanderud published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology
• Jay presents lab research at National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS) conference in Asheville, NC
• Kali co-authors Ecology Letters paper on linking evolutionary and ecosystem processes
• Sarah Placella joins the lab as a Postdoctoral Researcher
• Megan presents dissertation research at Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference
• Microbial seed bank paper is published in Nature Reviews Microbiology Read press release and see video
• Mario and Jay receive funding from the Huron Mountain Wildlife Foundation (HMWF) in Michigan's Upper Peninsula
• Lab receives BEACON funding with Jeff Barrick and Chris Klausmeier to study bacteria-phage evolution
• Experimental design paper published in Environmental Microbiology
• Kali presents thesis research at ASLO in Puerto Rico
• Microbial biodiversity paper with Noah Fierer published in special issue of the American Journal of Botany
• Jay gives talk at the California Academy of Sciences
• Jay and Angela Kent organize a symposium ("Micro-managing the planet") at this year's ESA meeting
• Dr. Ed Hall visits lab to work on the stoichiometry of plankton-biofilm interactions
• NSF project on denitrification led by Nathaniel Ostrom is funded
• USDA funds lab to study Microbial Communities in Soils

2010

• Paper on sensitivity of soil CO2 to precipitation variability published in Ecosystems
• Mario Muscarella joins lab as a Ph.D. student in Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
• Lab presents at the Argonne National Lab Soils Workshop
• Megan Lowenberg joins lab as a research assistant.
• Lab gives talks on dormancy and the rare biosphere at the International Society of Microbial Ecology in Seattle, WA
• Jay serves as Chair of the Microbial Ecology Section, Ecological Society of America
• Quote from interview on microbes and oil spill in New York Times
• Lab presents research at the Ecological Society of America meetings in Pittsburgh, PA
• Jay and Andy Dziaolowski conduct field work at the Hydrobiological Station in Mikołajki, Poland
• Jay presents at Marine Microbes Gordon Research Conference
• Former postdoc, Stuart Jones, starts faculty position at University of Notre Dame
• Jay and Tom Schmidt teach Microbial Metagenomics at KBS
• Lab research presented at American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) in Santa Fe, NM
• Lab paper on dormancy and microbial diversity is published in PNAS. Read press release here
• Lab paper on microbial temperature-resource trade-offs is published in Functional Ecology

2009

• Megan Larsen, Ph.D. student, joins lab to working on eco-evolution of cyanobacteria and their phage
• Lab paper on CH4 flow in plankton food webs is published in Aquatic Microbial Ecology
• Stuart and Jay attend the GLEON workshop in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin
• Whole-ecosystem DOC experiments are finished
• Collaborative project with Jen Fraterrigo funded through Environmental Change Institute to aquatic-terrestrial carbon cycling
• Jay presents at Plant Virus Ecology Network (PVEN) workshop in Ca' Tron di Roncade, Italy
• Lab receives support from the Broad Institute and Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation for Marine Phage Sequencing Project
• Lab presents research at the Ecological Society of America meetings in Albuquerque, NM
• Lab presents research at the American Society of Microbiology General Meeting in Philadelphia, PA
• Lab presents research at the Aquatic Viral Ecology meeting at the University of Delaware
• MSU News covers story on virus research in Lennon Lab
• Lab presents research at the Soil Science Society of America in Pittsburgh, PA
• In collaboration with Steve Wilhelm, Lab receives NSF funding to study co-evolution of viruses and marine cyanobacteria
• Former postdoc, Zach Aanderud, starts faculty position at Brigham Young University
• Jay gives tutorial on terrestrial DOC in aquatic systems at ASLO meeting in Nice, France
• Lab receives NSF funding to test theory about stability of resource subsidies

• Microbial Field Work
• 

  Rumen Sampling

• 

  Pond Draining

• 

  Phosphorus Baiting

• 

  Humified Daphnia