Double Seminar - Dr Rebecca Millington and Dr Becca Millard

Wednesday 14 June 2023 - Wednesday 14 June 2023

Location: Plymouth Marine Laboratory or Microsoft Teams

We're lucky to have a double seminar here from two of our newest colleagues, Dr Rebecca Millington and Dr Becca Millard. 

Speaker 1: Dr Rebecca Millington 
Title: Adaptation dampens the response of microbial community respiration to temperature
 
Abstract:
Microbial respiration in soils controls a key flux in the global carbon cycle, yet its sensitivity to warming remains uncertain. Respiration rates increase exponentially with rapid warming, but the response is dampened over time. Several possible mechanisms have been suggested to explain the response: taxon-level adaptation, changes to community composition and changes to community biomass. However, the role played by each mechanism has not been resolved. Here, we separate the relative importance of these mechanisms, finding that taxon-level adaptation has a larger role in controlling the dampening of the temperature sensitivity of community respiration rather than changes to community composition. We used a novel dataset of five taxa incubated simultaneously in monoculture and as a community across a range of temperatures in a controlled laboratory environment, which showed the expected dampening of community respiration. Taxon-level adaptation, changes to community composition and changes to community biomass were all observed, with a new mathematical model of taxon-level adaptation revealing that the dampening of taxon-level respiration was due to changes in maintenance respiration and cell mass. The importance of taxon-level adaptation in the dampening of community respiration response to temperature reconciles disagreement from previous studies and provides evidence for a robust representation of microbial processes in carbon cycle models. Link: Adaptation dampens the response of microbial community respiration to temperature 
 
Bio:
My work uses mathematical models to better understand the underlying ecological and evolutionary processes occurring in ecosystems as they respond to environmental change. Currently, I am using ERSEM to compare the role of different ecological processes in the carbon cycle and explore regional similarities and differences in ecosystem responses to climate change.

I previously worked as a postdoctoral research associate with Prof. Gabriel Yvon-Durocher at the Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter. My focus was on improving the understanding and predictions of the long-term response of microbial respiration to temperature, using a novel suite of data in conjunction with the development of mechanistic models.

My PhD gave me broad experience of applying mathematical models to different ecosystems. This included using conceptual models to explore the links between community adaptation, assembly and functioning, as well as using a model of coral reef fisheries to explore the effect of direct warming and habitat degradation on future fisheries productivity. I completed my PhD research as part of the QUEX institute, a partnership between the University of Queensland and the University of Exeter, working with Prof. Peter Cox in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Exeter and Prof. Peter Mumby in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland.
 
 
Speaker 2: Dr Becca Millard
 
 Title: What does a digital marine biologist do?
 
Abstract: As part of the new digital strategy, PML has invested in the recruitment of digitally-skilled individuals across each of the research groups. Becca is one of the new hires within the Marine Ecology and Biodiversity group. In this talk, Becca will give a brief introduction to herself and her previous research to showcase some of the new skills available to researchers at PML and give examples of where she hopes to implement these in her future research. In particular, Becca will focus on her PhD research which applied RNA-sequencing and microRNA-sequencing (transcriptomics) to two marine crustaceans to identify mechanisms of susceptibility and resistance to White Spot Disease; caused by a highly pathogenic marine virus with significant impacts on shrimp aquaculture worldwide.
 
Bio: Dr Becca Millard is a multidisciplinary Biologist specialised in molecular biology and bioinformatics. She has held positions as a Senior Bioinformatician at Sanquin (The Netherlands) and as Team Leader for the Epidemiology and Risk Modelling group at Cefas (UK). In the former, she acted as a go-to for researchers at all levels wishing to apply next-generation sequencing to their research. Her role included advising on sequencing experiment design, performing bioinformatics analyses, and training researchers. In the latter position, her primary role was as a Data Analyst where she made significant contributions to the development and run time of the aquaculture disease network model (AquaNet-Mod). Becca is interested in applying new sequencing technologies to understand the mechanisms by which marine biota can respond to stressors such as pathogens, climate change, and pollution events.

This seminar will be held online and is open to Marine Research Plymouth Colleagues, to register, please email comms@pml.ac.uk