Faculty
Ryan McMinds
research Assistant Professor
Contact
Tampa campus
Office: IDRB 404 / SCA 106
Phone: (813) 974-5408
Email: mcmindsr@usf.edu
| Specialty Area | Recent Publications |
|
Ecology & Evolution, Environmental Microbiology, Marine Biology Key reseach areas: coral, reef, bacteria, phylogenetics, statistics |
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Oregon State University
RESEARCH
I study the evolution of host-microbe symbioses. In the milieu of the host-associated
microbiome, there are many distinct patterns by which groups form their associations.
Some are strict, obligate symbionts, some are facultative, and others are simply passersby.
This forms a spectrum of consistency with which various microbial groups are found,
and creates complex interactions with environmental factors and the phylogeny of both
hosts and symbionts.
My focus has been to disentangle these complex interactions using occurrence patterns,
in order to create better hypotheses regarding the functional significance of each
group.