Author Archives: Kelle Freel

When microbes can move mountains, studying microbial communities on glaciers

Posted on 18 Jan, 2017 by Kelle Freel

Bacteria are amazing, and as a recent article by Ambrosini and colleagues reminds us, they are quite literally, just about everywhere. Before reading this article, I have to admit, I was a little rusty on my definition of cryoconite holes, … Continue reading →

Posted in community ecology, microbiology, Molecular Ecology, the journal | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

I do not think it means what you think it means: "relic DNA" can obscure microbial diversity studies

Posted on 20 Dec, 2016 by Kelle Freel

Although microbes are small, they play an important part in both biogeochemical cycles in the ocean as well as on land. However, as they are not so easy to observe by eye, and in many cases can’t be cultured in … Continue reading →

Posted in community, community ecology, microbiology, next generation sequencing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

When the going gets hot the dinoflagellates (sometimes) get going, how viruses might affect coral symbionts

Posted on 7 Dec, 2016 by Kelle Freel

Corals represent more than meets the eye, they host intricate and interesting communities composed of dinoflagellates (also referred to as zooxanthellae), and a suite of microbes that include bacteria, archaea, fungi, protists, and viruses. One such dinoflagellate that often shares … Continue reading →

Posted in community ecology, microbiology, next generation sequencing, RNAseq, transcriptomics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Diving into chilly California waters, understanding genomic differentiation and the role of gene transfer in marine cyanophages

Posted on 23 Nov, 2016 by Kelle Freel

At this point, it’s clear: microbes are everywhere, there are a lot of them, and they are important. In fact, they are more abundant, more diverse and older than any other organism we have on this planet. In particular, cyanobacteria … Continue reading →

Posted in Coevolution, evolution, genomics, horizontal gene transfer, microbiology, population genetics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The importance of culturing the uncultured, delving into the microbial consortia in the human gut

Posted on 15 Nov, 2016 by Kelle Freel

The molecular side of ecology has grown by leaps and bounds in recent decades. The review we covered not too long ago, did a nice job of summarizing many key aspects highlighting the importance of this relatively new molecular view … Continue reading →

Posted in community ecology, genomics, medicine, metagenomics, microbiology | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

There are more microbes than meet the eye: exploring the genomic diversity in an aquifer

Posted on 8 Nov, 2016 by Kelle Freel

First: it’s Tuesday, November 8th, 2016 – before you even think about putting your feet up and reading this post, I hope you’ve managed to wrangle yourself one of those highly prized “I voted” stickers. Now, on to more microbial … Continue reading →

Posted in bioinformatics, community ecology, metagenomics, microbiology, next generation sequencing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Still ruffling feathers after all these years: Darwin's finches and a molecular view of adaptive radiation

Posted on 31 Oct, 2016 by Kelle Freel

One of the many lovely things about molecular ecology is its ability to shine new light on old stories. The well-known case of Darwin’s finches is a classic example of adaptive radiation. These finches demonstrate a clear instance where over time, … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, association genetics, evolution, genomics, Molecular Ecology, the journal, population genetics, RNAseq, selection, speciation | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Making ecology “count”: a review of the why and how of molecular ecology  

Posted on 25 Oct, 2016 by Kelle Freel

It’s likely that everyone has been asked by either a friend or family member “What do you do?” Which, depending on what level of detail you shoot for, might be relatively straight forward. The follow-up question, however, can be a … Continue reading →

Posted in bioinformatics, community, community ecology, metagenomics | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

It's not the size that counts: teeny tiny SAR11 bacteria play a big role in our oceans

Posted on 11 Oct, 2016 by Kelle Freel

Microbes account for a huge chunk of the diversity on this planet, are essential in all sorts of biogeochemical processes, and we are still figuring out how everything is related. Teeny tiny bacterial cells are abundant both on land as … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, community ecology, evolution, metagenomics, microbiology | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Visualizing the evolution of bacterial resistance

Posted on 23 Sep, 2016 by Kelle Freel

You have probably already seen this. It’s pretty amazing and beautiful and I watched it more than once (although I won’t say how many times….). If by some chance you didn’t catch this fantastic video, don’t fret, I’m here to … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, evolution, mutation | Tagged , , | Leave a comment