My Talk and Interview on Microbes and Speciation from Germany

I returned last month from Kiel University for the 109th German Zoological Society Meeting. A Zoological Society Meeting alone is impressive these days, not to mention its 109 year history. Thomas Bosch invited me out for the keynote lecture. Thomas has been at the forefront of advancing a better appreciation of the natural world, namely the intricate interactions between a simple model system of the non-senescent cnidarian Hydra and its microbial community. Hydra represent an early key transition in the evolution of animals and therefore are critical to studying the origins of developmental mechanisms. Thomas is a CIFAR fellow and directs the Metaorganisms Collaborative Research Center, which is a beacon for systems biology thinking about the animal-microbiome assemblage.

Anyway, I presented our long-term studies on the role of bacteria in reproductive isolation and the origin of species. I presented old and new work, most recently by @ABrooksy19, @KevinDKohl, @liveinsymbiosis and @teddy1387 on phylosymbiosis across various animals. This work is currently in press.  Here's the talk and interview that the Collaborative Research Center clearly put a lot of work into - many thanks to the team.