The diversity of life has long fascinated biologists. Although biologists know a great deal about the diversity of plants and animals, we know very little about microbial diversity, despite the fact that microorganisms comprise most of life’s diversity.

Research in the Bohannan group is focused on the causes and consequences of microbial biodiversity. Recent work includes studies of the spatial scaling of bacterial biodiversity, the response of bacterial and archaeal communities to environmental change, and the role of spatial structure in the generation and maintenance of bacterial and viral diversity.

Prof. Bohannan is especially interested in promoting the integration of microbial ecology into the general science of ecology.

Selected Publications

Green, J. L., B. J. M. Bohannan and R. J. Whitaker.  2008.  Microbial biogeography: from taxonomy to traits. Science, in press.

Forde, S., J. Thompson and B. J. M. Bohannan. 2007.  Gene flow reverses an adaptive cline in a coevolving host-parasitoid interaction.  American Naturalist 169: 794-801.

Avrahami, S. and B. J. M. Bohannan.  2007. Response of Nitrosospira sp. AF-like ammonia-oxidizers to changes in temperature, soil moisture and fertilizer concentration.  Applied and Environmental Microbiology 73:1166-1173.

Gagneux, S., C. Davis Long, P. M. Small, T. Van, G. Schoolnick, and B. J. M. Bohannan.  2006. The competitive cost of antibiotic resistance in *Mycobacterium tuberculosis*.  Science 312: 1944-1946.

Kerr, B., C. Neuhauser, B. J. M. Bohannan, and A. M. Dean. 2006. Local migration promotes competitive restraint in a host-pathogen ‘tragedy of the commons’.  Nature 442:75-78.

Kramer, S., J. Reganold, B. J. M. Bohannan, and H. Mooney. 2006. Reduced nitrate leaching and enhanced denitrifier activity and efficiency in organically fertilized soils. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 103: 4522-4527.