Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
Mailing Address:
Department of Biology
Boise State University
Boise, ID 83725-1515
Office Location: Science Building, Room 133
Email Address: leonorabittleston@boisestate.edu
Visit Bittleston’s lab website
Academic Degrees
- B.S., University of California – Berkeley, 2007
- Ph.D., Harvard University, 2016
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016-2019
Research Interests
The Bittleston Lab investigates the ecology and evolution of multispecies interactions. We aim to understand how microbial communities form, and how their dynamics affect their hosts as well as ecosystem structure and function. To study this, we use genomics tools to connect genes with ecology. Our main study systems are the small, aquatic ecosystems that form inside the leaves of carnivorous pitcher plants and the leaf-associated microbial communities of sagebrush plants.
Publications
Bernardin, J.R., Young, E.B., Gray, S.M., Bittleston, L.S. 2024. Bacterial community function increases leaf growth in a pitcher plant experimental system. mSystems 9:e01298-24. https://doi.org/10.1128/msystems.01298-24
Cagle, G., McGrew, A., Baiser, B., Record, S., Gotelli, N., Gravel, D., Bittleston, L., Young, E., Gray, S. and Freedman, Z. 2024. Dispersal limitation governs bacterial community assembly in the northern pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea) at the continental scale. Global Ecol Biogeogr e13922. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13922
Bittleston, L.S. 2024. Connecting microbial community assembly and function. Current Opinion in Microbiology, 80,102512 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mib.2024.102512
Engel, A., Simler-Williamson, A., Ravenscraft, A., Bittleston, L.S., de Graaff, M.A. 2024. Interactive effects of fungal community structure and soil moisture on Wyoming big sagebrush performance. Plant and Soil, 1-23 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-024-06809-1
Bernardin, J.R., Gray, S.M., Bittleston, L.S. 2024. Arthropod prey type drives decomposition rates and microbial community processes. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, e00394-24 https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.00394-24
D’Andrea, R., Khattar, G., Koffel, T., Frans, V., Bittleston, L.S., Cuellar-Gempeler, C. 2024. Reciprocal inhibition and competitive hierarchy cause negative biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships. Ecology Letters 27:e14356 https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14356
Bittleston L.S.*, Wolock C.J.*, Maeda J., Infante V., Ané J.M., Pierce N.E., and Pringle A. 2023. Carnivorous Nepenthes pitchers with less acidic fluid house nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Applied and Environmental Microbiology https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/aem.00812-23.
*Contributed equally to this work.
Shaffer, J.P., Nothias, LF., Thompson, L.R. et al. 2022. Standardized multi-omics of Earth’s microbiomes reveals microbial and metabolite diversity. Nat Microbiol 7, 2128–2150. https://doi/10.1038/s41564-022-01266-x L.S.B listed as a coauthor as part of the EMP500 Consortium.
Bittleston, L.S., Benson, E.L., Bernardin, J.R. and Pierce, N.E. 2022. Characterization and comparison of convergence among Cephalotus follicularis pitcher plant-associated communities with those of Nepenthes and Sarracenia found worldwide. Front. Plant Sci. 13:887635. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.887635
Heil, J.A., Wolock, C.J., Pierce, N.E., Pringle, A, and Bittleston, L.S. 2022. Sarracenia pitcher plant-associated microbial communities differ primarily by host species across a longitudinal gradient. Environmental Microbiology https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.15993
Goyal, A., Bittleston, L.S., Leventhal, G.E., Lu, L., Cordero, O.X. 2022. Interactions between strains govern the eco-evolutionary dynamics of microbial communities. eLife 11:e74987 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.74987
Bittleston, L.S., Freedman, Z.B., Bernardin, J.R., Grothjan, J.J., Young, E.B., Record, S., Baiser, B., Gray, S.M. 2021. Exploring microbiome functional dynamics through space and time with trait-based theory. mSystems 6:e00530-21. https://doi.org/10.1128/mSystems.00530-21
Bittleston, L.S., Gralka, M., Leventhal, G.E., Mizrahi, I., Cordero, O.X. 2020. Context-dependent dynamics lead to the assembly of functionally distinct microbial communities. Nature Communications 11, 1440. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15169-0
Gilbert, K.J., Bittleston, L.S., Naive, M.A.K., Kiszewski, A.E., Buenavente, P.A.C., Lohman, D.J., Pierce, N.E. 2020. Investigation of an elevational gradient reveals strong differences between bacterial and eukaryotic communities coinhabiting Nepenthes phytotelmata. Microbial Ecology https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-020-01503-y
Shoemaker, L.G., Barner, A.K., Bittleston, L.S. and Teufel, A.I. 2020. Quantifying the relative importance of variation in predation and the environment for species coexistence. Ecology Letters doi:10.1111/ele.13482
Gilbert, K.J., Bittleston, L.S., Tong, W., Pierce, N.E. 2020. Tropical pitcher plants (Nepenthes) act as ecological filters by altering properties of their fluid microenvironments. Scientific Reports 10, 4431 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61193-x
Bittleston, L.S., Wolock, C.J., Yahya, B.E., Chan, X.Y., Chan, K.C., Pierce, N.E., and Pringle, A. 2018. Convergence between the microcosms of Southeast Asian and North American pitcher plants. eLife 2018;7:e36741 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.36741
Bittleston, L.S. Commensals of Nepenthes pitchers. 2018. In Ellison, A.M., and Adamec, L. (Eds.), Carnivorous plants: physiology, ecology and evolution. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Order here.
Baker, C.C.M., Bittleston, L.S., Sanders, J.G., and Pierce, N.E. 2016. Dissecting host-associated communities with DNA barcodes. Philosophical Transactions B DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0328.
Bittleston, L.S., Pierce, N.E., Ellison, A.M., and Pringle, A. 2016. Convergence in multispecies interactions. TREE 31: 269-280
Bittleston L.S., Baker, C.C.M., Strominger, L.B., Pringle, A. and Pierce, N. E. 2016. Metabarcoding as a tool for investigating arthropod diversity in Nepenthes pitcher plants. Austral Ecology 41: 120-132
Coletta-Filho, H.D., Bittleston, L.S., Lopes, J.R.S., Daugherty, M.P., and Almeida, R.P.P. 2015. Genetic distance may underlie virulence differences among isolates of a bacterial plant pathogen. Journal of Plant Pathology 97: 465-469
Bittleston L.S., Brockmann, F., Wcislo, W. and Van Bael, S.A. 2011. Endophytic fungi reduce leaf-cutting ant damage to seedlings. Biology Letters 7: 30–32
Degnan, P.H.*, Bittleston, L.S.*, Hansen, A.K., Sabree, Z.L., Moran, N.A. and Almeida, R.P.P. 2011. Origin and examination of a leafhopper facultative endosymbiont. Current Microbiology 62: 1565-1572
*Contributed equally to this work.
Coletta-Filho, H.D., Bittleston, L.S. and Almeida, R.P.P. 2011. Spatial genetic structure of a vector-borne generalist pathogen. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 77: 2596-2601
Prospective Graduate and Undergraduate Students
Undergraduate and graduate students interested in working in the lab should email me with your C.V. or resume, and a description of what you want to study and why.