Applied Microbial Ecology

Catalog description

This is a lecture-based course that will broaden students' understanding of the diverse biotic and abiotic interactions relevant to microbes in diverse environments. In particular, this course focuses on ecological interactions between microbes in a common environment or between microbes and their eukaryotic hosts (e.g. plants and animals). In addition to learning about ecological theory as it applies to microbes, students will learn about historical and contemporary approaches to studying microbes in different environments. This will include substantial focus on cutting edge '-omics', microscopic, and direct functional analytical approaches to understand both the distribution of microbial taxa (i.e. who's there) and what processes they carry out in their natural environments (i.e. what they're doing). In the latter portions of the class, students will apply the theory and techniques to understanding the ecology of specific environments, including environmental, agricultural, and food environments. The objectives of this course include: provide students with a firm understanding of contemporary microbial ecology and environmental microbiology; conceptually link processes that occur in disparate environments, such as plant roots, termite guts, and cheese rinds; provide students with the language to discuss these concepts and processes; make students familiar with and conversant in 'omic' and other cutting edge functional techniques used to study microbes in their natural environments; provide select examples of how humans take advantage of microbial ecology for our benefit (such as suppression of pathogens or promotion of waste decomposition). The course will conclude with a research and writing project where students will review the microbial ecology of a specific environment. This course expects students to have an understanding of basic microbiological concepts.