Research Projects Publications CV

 

Wear_headshot

I am interested in the intersection between bacterioplankton community ecology and dissolved organic matter (DOM) biogeochemistry. That is, what are the effects of varying DOM inputs on which bacteria and archaea are present in a body of water, and how does DOM composition influence metabolic processes? Conversely, how does the activity of the bacterioplankton community drive DOM processing, including remineralization to carbon dioxide and potential sequestration?

My research addresses these questions from two distinct angles. I use molecular techniques to assess community composition and metabolic potential from functional genes. Biogeochemical techniques, usually applied in experimental assays, allow me to empirically measure rates of DOM processing. My long-term goal is to continue to couple these two approaches to understand the effects of ecosystem-level perturbations on bacterial-DOM interactions.

Contact me

emmawear@lclark.edu

ResearchGate profile
Google Scholar page