Rob Dunn

Bio

Research Interests

Most of the living world remains poorly or totally unknown. In my lab we study the species around us in our everyday lives, species we tend to think of us as well known. Most of those species are not well known and so there are many things to discover in your backyard, in your bedroom, or even on your roommate. Some days I work to study these species myself, bending down to figure out whether the fungus on my neighbor’s foot is a new species. More often I spent my time working with students and other researchers to help along their own discoveries. I also write about the world around us, which is a chance to share the stories of the scientists who have devoted their lives to understanding species, organs, cells, genes or ecosystems that influence us every day. In my building alone I am surrounded by biologists who study prairie voles, rare butterflies, fish ovaries, dinosaurs with long, long, claws, the decisions we make when threatened with death, alcoholic fruitflies, fungus farming beetles, and much, much more. It is a good job, this thing called science, silly at times, serious at others, but nearly always good.

Web Resources

• Rob Dunn Lab
• Your Wild Life
• Students Discover

Publications

• Flying insect biomass is negatively associated with urban cover in surrounding landscapes , DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS (2022)
• The bacterial community of childcare centers: potential implications for microbial dispersal and child exposure , ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOME (2022)
• The evolution of sour taste , PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES (2022)
• Warm and arid regions of the world are hotspots of superorganism complexity , PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES (2022)
• A Pilot Study on Baseline Fungi and Moisture Indicator Fungi in Danish Homes , JOURNAL OF FUNGI (2021)
• A natural history of the future : what the laws of biology tell us about the destiny of the human species , (2021)
• A review of clothing microbiology: the history of clothing and the role of microbes in textiles , BIOLOGY LETTERS (2021)
• A review of sourdough starters: ecology, practices, and sensory quality with applications for baking and recommendations for future research , PEERJ (2021)
• Abundance of spring- and winter-active arthropods declines with warming , ECOSPHERE (2021)
• Ancient and modem genomes unravel the evolutionary history of the rhinoceros family , CELL (2021)