Summer 2016
CoPIs: Benjamin Baiser, Sydne Record, Zachary Freedman, Timothée Poisot, Dominique Gravel, Nicholas Gotelli
Beginning in May 2016 Dr. Alicia McGrew and I began a field sampling trip that spanned from the Florida Panhandle to the northernmost reaches of Maine. Along the way we visited bogs, lakes, seepage slopes, and fens that were home to the carnivorous Purple Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea). This amazing plant has leaves that form a pitcher, hold water, and house an entire aquatic ecosystem complete with microbes, rotifers, protozoa, and midge and mosquito larvae. This tiny ecosystem plays an essential role for the plant which lives in very harsh, nutrient poor habitats. By shredding up and feeding on any critters unlucky enough to fall into the plants' water-filled leaves the aquatic ecosystem makes a soup of precious nutrients available for the plant to use.
During our field sampling we collected plant morphological traits, plant tissue for population estimates, and samples of the aquatic community. Our sampling in the US was complimented by sampling conducted in Canada, the northern most extent of the species' range. This dataset will be used to address questions about taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of microbial communities across latitudinal gradients, variation in plant morphology across the range of a species and more. Check out some awesome places we went and things we saw below.
Relevant Publications
CoPIs: Benjamin Baiser, Sydne Record, Zachary Freedman, Timothée Poisot, Dominique Gravel, Nicholas Gotelli
Beginning in May 2016 Dr. Alicia McGrew and I began a field sampling trip that spanned from the Florida Panhandle to the northernmost reaches of Maine. Along the way we visited bogs, lakes, seepage slopes, and fens that were home to the carnivorous Purple Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea). This amazing plant has leaves that form a pitcher, hold water, and house an entire aquatic ecosystem complete with microbes, rotifers, protozoa, and midge and mosquito larvae. This tiny ecosystem plays an essential role for the plant which lives in very harsh, nutrient poor habitats. By shredding up and feeding on any critters unlucky enough to fall into the plants' water-filled leaves the aquatic ecosystem makes a soup of precious nutrients available for the plant to use.
During our field sampling we collected plant morphological traits, plant tissue for population estimates, and samples of the aquatic community. Our sampling in the US was complimented by sampling conducted in Canada, the northern most extent of the species' range. This dataset will be used to address questions about taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of microbial communities across latitudinal gradients, variation in plant morphology across the range of a species and more. Check out some awesome places we went and things we saw below.
Relevant Publications
- Freedman, Zachary B., Alicia McGrew, Benjamin Baiser, Mathilde Besson, Dominique Gravel, Timothée Poisot, Sydne Record, Lauren B. Trotta, and Nicholas J. Gotelli. 2021. "Environment-host-microbial interactions shape the Sarracenia purpurea microbiome at the continental scale." Ecology.