Alison Gould,

I study the evolutionary ecology of symbiotic interactions between animals and microbes. My research integrates natural history and behavioral ecology with molecular methods to better understand how these specialized associations are established and how host-symbiont specificity is maintained over time. I am especially interested in a group of bioluminescent coral reef fish (Siphamia) and their symbiosis with luminous bacteria. For my dissertation research, I described the life history, behavior, and ecology of the host fish relative to its symbiosis with luminous bacteria. At the California Academy of Sciences, I am expanding this work across the entire host genus to better understand how the relationships between hosts and symbionts change and persist through time. Sponsored by an NIH Director’s Early Independence Award I am also working to develop this binary symbiosis as a tractable vertebrate-bacteria model system with which to investigate the mechanisms that regulate our gut microbiome.