LBNL Scientist to Speak on Microbial Life and Interactions in Lilliputian Landscapes
His presentation, from 4:10 to 5 p.m., Wednesday, May 26, will be hosted by community ecologist Rachel Vannette, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. Access the Zoom link here.
"All ecosystems are shaped and, to a certain degree, regulated by microorganisms," Ceja-Navarro says in his abstract. "Microorganisms on multiple trophic levels interact with each other and with their surrounding environment. For example, in the rhizosphere, protozoa and nematodes regulate the dynamics and turnover of bacterial and fungal communities associated with plants. While doing so, protists and nematodes increase nutrient availability and even trigger certain trait expression in the microbes."
"In order to understand and predict the ecosystem's capacity to remain stable, resist, and recover from environmental stress, it is essential to identify key biological players across trophic levels and understand well their contributions to the maintenance of complex systems," he points out. "This applies to all ecosystems where trophic complexity exists, from insects' gut microbiome, to the rhizosphere of a plant, or complex terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In this presentation, I will share my experiences with the use of multi-‘omics and chemical analyses to characterize microbial community composition, the distribution of microbial function, and trophic associations in the gut of insects, the rhizosphere of plants, and a soil chronosequence. Overall, my research shows that environmental filtering is key driver for microbial community composition and function across kingdoms offering clues on the susceptibility of microbial food webs to environmental change."
Ceja-Navarro focuses his research program on the study of multitrophic interactions in ecosystems such as digestive tracts of insects and soil. Specific focus topics of research include: (1) the study of arthropods as microbial bioreactors; (2) co-evolution of insects' digestive tract physical structure and microbial function for the transformation of recalcitrant molecules such as lignocellulose; and (3) environmental engineering and regulation of ecosystem services driven by the multitrophic interactions among the members of the food web of complex ecosystems, their contributions to ecosystems function, and responses to environmental change.
"As a scientist, my goal is to develop and apply innovations in the fields of molecular biology, biotechnology, bioinformatics, and chemical engineering using multidisciplinary tools to understand the mechanisms that control multitrophic interactions in diverse biological systems," he writes on his website. "I combine my passion for the study of the arthropod microbiome with my continuing fascination with soil complexity, to work on a research line that considers the cross-kingdom interactions (the associations between bacteria, fungi, protists, and nematodes), host-microbe interactions in soil microarthropods (ticks, springtails, mites), and the effect of these associations on processes such as biogeochemical cycling, biomass conversion, the evolution of the microbiome in the environment."
Ceja-Navarro holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering (2005) from Instituto Tecnologico de Celaya. Guanajuato, Mexico, and a doctorate in biotechnology (2009) from Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados del I.P.N. Mexico City, Mexico. He participated in the leadership development program at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory/UC Berkeley Program, Berkeley Haas School of Business, in 2015-2016.
His credentials include postdoctoral researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) Climate and Ecosystem Sciences, Division, Berkeley, from 2010 to 2014; and project scientist from 2014-2016. He was promoted to research scientist in June 2016.
In a YouTube presentation titled "Beetles, Biofuel and Coffee," Ceja-Navarro discussed his research on the microbial populations found the guts of insects, specifically the coffee berry borer that may lead to better pest management; and the Passalid beetle, which could lead to improved biofuel production.
LBNL, commonly referred to as Berkeley Lab, conducts scientific research on behalf of the Department of Energy. The lab, located in the hills of Berkeley, overlooks the UC Berkeley campus.
Cooperative Extension specialist Ian Grettenberger coordinates the spring seminars, which take place every Wednesday at 4:10 p.m. He may be reached at imgrettenberger@ucdavis.edu for any technical issues.