Future of LTER Fungal/Bacterial Environmental Genomics Studies

Working Group Reports

Final reports: 

Fungal-Bacterial Genomics WG ASM 2012 Report.pdf

Participant list: 

LTER ASM 2012 WG Participants.pdf

Long-term ecological studies have provided meaningful information on diversity and ecology of animals, plants, fungi and bacteria, and the impact of climate change on these communities. In the last decade, new genomic technologies have emerged that are helping with studies of microbial diversity in different ecosystems and substrates. Many of these studies have being undertaken at different LTER sites but little has been done to coordinate cross-site studies and to establish protocols for data collection, management and dissemination.

In June 2011, a group of researchers and students met at the Sevilleta Field Station for the first LTER fungal/microbial genomics meeting to exchange information and discuss problems and opportunities. In the present working group, we will present a summary of the meeting held in June 2011, have presentations of metagenomic studies from different LTER sites and discuss the following questions:

1. Where do we want to be as a group within the LTER in the next decade?
2. How can we facilitate cross-site studies?
3. How can we make our presence and simplify genomic data presentation at LTER site webpages?

Agenda

1:30pm Introduction - Sharon A. Cantrell

1:40pm Microbial/Fungal Genomic Working Group - Summary - Andrea Porras-Alfaro and Don Natvig

2:00pm Diversity and function of decomposer fungi in a changing climate- Linda van Diepen

2:15pm SRB across ecosystems of Puerto Rico - José R. Pérez-Jiménez

2:30pm Microbial diversity and function in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica - Cristina - Takacs-Vesbach

2:45pm The plant rhizosphere as a habitat for microbial species interactions and coevolution- Dan Schlatter

3:00pm  Fungal plant-systems: Sevilleta fungal communities and new tools of analysis - Andrea Porras-Alfaro

3:30pm  Coffee Break

4:00-6:00pm Open discussion