The Daily Bulletin

Please join the Biology Department and the Great Lakes Center for the seminar “Keep One Another Close: The Importance of Wildlife-Microbe Symbioses in a Changing World,” presented by Kevin Kohl, associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, on Monday, November 4, at 3:00 p.m. in Science and Mathematics Complex 151. Attendees are welcome to enjoy coffee and cookies during the seminar.

Abstract
Anthropogenic changes to our planet have imposed numerous challenges to wildlife and their associated microbes. With increasing recognition of how microbes affect animal health, conservationists may need to consider wide-ranging factors that may disrupt or preserve these host-microbe interactions; that is, how do we conserve “holobionts”? Here, Dr. Kohl and his team will begin to consider this question in two systems. First, with relevance to climate change, they have demonstrated that microbes aid larval amphibians in tolerance to heat stress and heat waves. They are now working to understand landscape variation in these associations, and how human land use (pollution, agriculture) may disrupt important partnerships. Second, given increasing needs for captive-rearing programs to preserve species diversity, they are working to understand the microbial ecology of captive care and the built environment. Specifically, through collaboration with the International Crane Foundation, they are working to improve artificial rearing practices of endangered whooping crane chicks. They have shown that chicks raised by humans in costume have significantly altered microbiomes from those raised by adult birds. They have conducted fecal microbiome transplants (FMTs) with the goal of rescuing the microbiome and ameliorating health defects, which are also more common in costume-reared chicks. Together, these studies consider the need to understand and conserve host-microbe interactions in a changing world.