We are interested in understanding the ecology, structure and functioning of microbial communities in different biological systems. We use modelling approaches to characterise the pattern of communities before investigating the factors that determine changes in community composition. These systems are of particular interest in the context of environments where a theroretical understanding of system processes has applied significance, such as sewage works, the gut tract in vertebrates and the soil where communities respond to different drivers.
Current Projects
Sources, Seasonality, Transmission and Control: Campylobacter and human behaviour in a changing environment
Frontier Engineering
Susceptibility of broiler chickens to Campylobacter
Recent Projects
Microbial diversity in Antarctic soils
Related Papers
- Dennis PG, Rushton SP, Newsham KK, Lauducina VA, Ord VJ, Daniell TJ, O'Donnell AG, Hopkins DW. Soil fungal community composition does not alter along a latitudinal gradient through the maritime and sub-Antarctic. Fungal Ecology, 2012, 5 (4) 403–408
- Jenkins SN, Rushton SP, Lanyon CV, Whiteley AS, Waite IS, Brookes PC, Kemmitt S, Evershed RP, O'Donnell AG. Taxon-specific responses of soil bacteria to the addition of low level C inputs. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 2010, 42(9), 1624-1631.
- Jenkins SN, Waite IS, Blackburn A, Husband R, Rushton SP, Manning DC, O'Donnell AG. Actinobacterial community dynamics in long term managed grasslands. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 2009, 95(4), 319-334.
- O'Donnell AG, Young IM, Rushton SP, Shirley MD, Crawford JW. Visualization, modelling and prediction in soil microbiology. Nature Reviews Microbiology 2007, 5(9), 689-699.
- Lanyon CV, Rushton SP, O'Donnell AG, Goodfellow M, Ward AC, Petrie M, Jensen SP, Gosling LM, Penn DJ. Murine scent mark microbial communities are genetically determined. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 2007, 59(3), 576-583.