The Microbial Evolutionary Ecology lab investigates how interactions between species and their environment influence how microbial communities evolve. Our ultimate goal is to predict how microbial communities respond to stressful environmental change by gaining general insights into the interplay between ecological and evolutionary dynamics. We combine diverse approaches such as experimental evolution, whole genome sequencing, bacterial physiology and mathematical modeling.

Our lab is part of the Center for Evolutionary Genetics and the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California Irvine. The EEB department has both a strong community of evolutionary biologists and microbial ecologists. In addition, there is a thriving community of microbiome researchers on campus. If you are interested in microbial eco-evolutionary dynamics, we would love to hear from you!