How do microbial communities control the flow of energy and matter through ecosystems?

The Bier Lab works on this question by combining microbial ecology and biogeochemistry research. We study the microbial role in terrestrial-aquatic connections, aquatic and wetland ecosystem function, and the effects of disturbance on microbial community processes and composition.

We are located at Savannah River Ecology Laboratory which is a research unit of the University of Georgia and is located near Aiken, SC, USA.

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Mesocosms at Lake Erken, Sweden
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Agricultural stream in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA
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News

May 2022: Welcome to Kenzie Cromer who just graduated from USC-Aiken and is joining our lab group as a research assistant

April 2022: Congratulations to  Emma Kelsick and Viviana Bravo for their SFS Board travel awards to attend the Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting this May

Congratulations to Viviana Bravo and Fabiola López Ávila  for being selected as
SFS Emerge Fellows

August 2021: Welcome incoming graduate students Viviana Bravo Ortiz and Fabiola López Ávila to SREL, Odum School of Ecology, and UGA! Both Fabiola and Viviana are in the M.S. in Conservation Ecology & Sustainable Development program and are co-advised by Dr. Krista Capps.Viviana will be studying macroinvertebrate bioindicators and Fabiola will be exploring freshwater ecosystem responses to microplastics.

June 2021: Congratulations to Emma  and Fabiola on receiving a Master's Fellow Award from the UGA Graduate School! Well deserved!

May 2021: Welcome incoming graduate student Emma Kelsick to SREL, Odum School of Ecology, and UGA!
Emma will be working on her Master's in Ecology and co-advised by Dr. Stacey Lance. Check out Emma's research interests in her bio on the People page. Looking forward to some fun microbial research.

June 2020: Excited to begin at University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Lab as an assistant research scientist in August! I look forward to building a collaborative and creative research team and serving the community through science.