The Nüsslein Group
Microbial Ecology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
My research interests lie in describing microbial community dynamics and determining whether and how these dynamics relate to larger ecosystem processes. My long-term research goals are to build predictive models community dynamics in response to environmental variability. Much of my work is biased toward the incredibly diverse and functionally important organisms living in the soil. While my graduate work was largely within the field of ecosystem ecology, my research questions and work have since moved more into the field of microbiology. Specific current and previous research includes examining effects of ecosystem management on soil community function, effects of plant species invasion on ecosystem structure and processes, plant-soil microbial associations within the context of plant species invasion, and the relative effects of environment and microbial composition on ecosystem function within a New England tidal marsh.
I'm currently using reciprocal transplants of sediment cores contained in microbial “cages” to tease apart relative effects of environment and microbial composition on some ecosystem function assays. Our cages are constructed of dialysis membranes, which require water to maintain their integrity. Consequently, we have been working in a tidal marsh system, comparing freshwater marsh and saltmarsh sediment communities. Our hope is to use these systems to examine how different communities respond to similar environments and to examine how one environment affects different community compositions over a longer period of exposure. Strong experimental approaches are needed to understand the relative importance of biotic composition for predicting ecosystem processes as a function of various environmental conditions.
B.S., Department of Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA (1993-1997). Graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa.
Ph.D., Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder (1998-2005). Advisor: Dr. T. R. Seastedt; Dissertation thesis: Fire and plant invasion effects on aspects of aboveground and belowground interactions in an eastern tallgrass prairie.
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI (2005-2007).
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine (2007-2009).
Lage, M. D., H. E. Reed, C. Weihe, C. M. Crain, J. B. H. Martiny. Submitted. Nitrogen and phosphorous availability alter the composition of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in salt marsh sediments.
Reed, H. E., J. M. Blair, D.H. Wall, and T.R. Seastedt. 2009. Impacts of management legacies on litter decomposition in response to reduced precipitation in a tallgrass prairie. Applied Soil Ecology 42: 79-85.
Reed, H. E. and J. B. H. Martiny. 2007. Testing the functional signficance of microbial composition in natural communities. FEMS Microbial Ecology 62: 161-170.
Reed, H.E., and J. B. Hughes 2005. Review of Oladele Ogunseitan: Microbial Diversity, Blackwell Publishing. The Quarterly Review of Biology 81: 63-64.
Reed, H.E., T. R. Seastedt, J.M. Blair. 2005. Ecological Consequences of C4 invasion of a C4 tallgrass prairie: a dilemma for management. Ecological Applications 15: 1560-1569.
Enkerli, J., H. Reed, A. Briley, G. Bhatt, and S. F. Covert. 2000. Physical map of a conditionally dispensable chromosome in Nectria haematococca mating population VI and location of chromosome breakpoints. Genetics 155: 1083-1094.
Reed, H. E. and J. B. H. Martiny. 2008. The Relationship between Microbial Composition and Ecosystem Processes in a New England Tidal Marsh. American Society of Microbiology. Poster.
Reed, H. E. and J. B. H. Martiny. 2007. A field approach to examine relative effects of environment and community composition on microbial function. NSF Microbial Observatories Review Meeting. Washington, D.C. Poster.
Reed, H. E. and J. B. H. Martiny. 2007. A field approach to examine relative effects of environment and community composition on microbial function. American Society of Microbiology, Toronto, Canada. Invited oral presentation.
Reed, H. E. and J.B. H. Martiny. 2006. A field approach to examine the relative effects of microbial composition and environment on ecosystem processes. International Society of Microbial Ecology, Vienna Austria. Oral presentation.
Reed, H.E. and J.B. Hughes. 2006. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of root-associated bacteria of two perennial C4 grasses in a tallgrass prairie ecosystem. BIOGEOMON: 5th International Symposium on Ecosystem Behavior, Santa Cruz, CA. Invited oral presentation.
Reed, H.E., R.E. Ley. R.E., A. St. Amand, J.K. Harris J. Walker, and N.R. Pace. 2005. Molecular diversity of root-associated bacterial communities of two congener grass species, one a native dominant and the other an exotic invasive. Gordon Research Conference: Applied and Environmental Microbiology, New Haven, CT. Poster.
Reed, H. E., D. H. Wall, J. M. Blair, and T. R. Seastedt. 2005. Soil biotic effects on decomposition stability in an eastern tallgrass prairie. Soil Ecology Society, Argonne National Laboratory, IL, Oral Presentation.
Reed, H.E., R.E. Ley. R.E., K.J. Harris, and N.R. Pace. 2003. Molecular diversity of root-associated bacterial communities of two congener grass species, one a native dominant and the other an exotic invasive. American Society for Microbiology, Washington D.C., Poster.
Reed, H.E., and T.R. Seastedt. 2003. Invasion of an exotic C4 grass into an eastern tallgrass prairie: the case of Andropogon gerardii vs. Andropogon bladhii. Soil Ecology Society, Palm Springs, CA Oral Presentation.
Reed, H. E., R.E. Ley, K.J. Harris, and N.R. Pace. 2003. Molecular survey of root-associated bacterial communities from an invasive and a native plant species. BES, Symposium on Biological Function and Diversity of Soils. Poster.
Reed, H.E., T.R. Seastedt, and N.R. Pace. 2003. Linking aboveground community changes to belowground communities. Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology. Invited departmental oral presentation.
Reed, H. E. and T.R. Seastedt. 2002. Soil biota controls on decomposition in burned and unburned prairie. Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, Tucson, AZ. Poster.
Reed, H., T.R. Seastedt, and J. M. Blair. 2001. A comparison of C and N cycling associated with a native and a non-native C4 grass in a tallgrass prairie. Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, Madison, WI. Oral Presentation.
