msi postdoctoral fellow 2006

celeste peterson

Biogeography and Microbial Ecology in Sarracenia purpurea:

Understanding Processes Generating and Maintaining Microbial Diversity

 

Celeste Peterson is a microbial ecologist studying biogeography and community ecology in the model ecosystem Sarracenia purpurea to understand processes generating and maintaining microbial diversity.

Celeste received her PhD in Molecular Biology in January 2006 from Princeton University, New Jersey. She received a B.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University and spent one year as a Fulbright Scholar at Uppsala Univerisity in Sweden. For her dissertation, Celeste studied the molecular basis of how Escherichia coli switches back and forth from vegetative growth to a dormant state known as stationary phase.  Her findings suggest a novel method of regulation of the factor responsible for this switch and point to the role of small molecules in the signaling process.

As an MSI fellow, Celeste is working with Anne Pringle and Roberto Kolter to address questions of biogeography and community ecology using the model system Sarracenia purpurea (commonly known as the northeastern pitcher plant). Her studies involve examining the population distribution of single enteric bacteria species and functional genes within the plants over different geographic scales with the goal of understanding the relative roles of migration and environmental selection in determining microbial diversity patterns. Hypotheses generated from these studies will be compared to those from plant and animal studies to ask whether biodiversity scaling rules exist that are common to most life forms. In addition, these studies will shed light on the factors regulating community diversity at higher phylogenetic levels. The system is an excellent opportunity to start addressing questions of how bacteria diversity is regulated by bottom-up factors, such as patch size and nutrient availability and top-down factors, such as a keystone predator, and to ultimately integrate bacteria into foodweb models.

Find out more about Dr. Peterson's research...

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