Cory Duckworth

Temporal variation in pond microbial communities

The presence or absence of environmentally occurring microbes has been shown to influence the gut microbiome assembly and physiology of amphibians. In natural environments, tadpoles may be exposed to stochastic microbial communities in ponds that could impact this process through time. These temporal fluctuations in pond microbiomes are understudied, however, and it remains unclear what factors contribute the most to their variability. To address this knowledge gap, I propose an investigation into the influence of pond type, geography, and timescale on the temporal variation of pond microbiota. Throughout this summer, I will be collecting water from several ponds around PLE and characterizing their microbial communities to elucidate how they could be changing through time.