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Freshwater Colloquium: Ecogenomics of freshwater lake bacteria
March 10 @ 3:00 pm - 3:50 pm
Katherine (Trina) McMahon will present “Ecogenomics of freshwater lake bacteria” as part of the School of Freshwater Sciences Fall colloquium.
Professor Katherine McMahon received her BS in Civil Engineering and MS in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in 1995 and 1997 respectively. She earned her PhD in Environmental Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley in 2002. She joined the faculty in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Wisconsin Madison in 2003 and became cross-appointed with the Bacteriology Department in 2008. She was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2008 and professor in 2013. Her research interests span multiple dimensions of the “water microbiome” including wastewater treatment and freshwater quality. She has a special interest in wastewater treatment bacteria that sequester phosphorus using an enigmatic physiology. She is heavily invested in the North Temperate Lakes Long Term Ecological Research site and directs the NTL Microbial Observatory. Finally, she is passionate about future faculty professional development and has served as Co-Faculty Director of the Delta Program in Research, Teaching, and Learning at UW-Madison since 2011. She was elected as a fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology in 2018.
Freshwater lake bacterial populations are dynamic. Ecological forces alter their community composition and evolutionary processes shape their genomes. In this presentation, recent findings made possible through a 20-year time series of metagenomic data generated from Lake Mendota, Madison, WI will be shared. This study used genome-resolved approaches to examine how population-level diversity changes over time scales from weeks to decades. Results show that aquatic invasive species are restructuring the lake foodweb, with cascading effects on lake bacteria. Climate change is impacting the populations, through variation in precipitation patterns and intensity. This unprecedented dataset allows us to view lake bacteria through a genomics lens, revealing the interacting forces of evolution and ecological drivers.
The Spring 2025 Freshwater Colloquium series will be held in the GLRF Ballroom. Most talks will involve the theme of Emerging Contaminants in Aquatic Environments. Snacks will be available prior to the talk. Please join us!
This presentation is open to students, faculty, staff, alumni and the public.
Spring 2025 Colloquium Series schedule. The Colloquium series creates a platform where students, faculty, and scientists discuss emergent issues related to freshwater science research. Invited speakers present specific topics of their research, as well as policy, commercial, and industrial experiences. Everyone is welcome.