I am a disease ecologist broadly interested in interactions between hosts, symbionts and their environment. As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Utah and Smithsonian Institution, my current projects include (1) examining how diet, geography and host evolutionary history contribute to microbiome structure and stability and (2) studying the chemical ecology, behavior, and toxin-resistance of the cardenolide-sequestering African crested rat (Lophiomys imhausi) and its parasites. Beyond lab, I enjoy chasing frisbees, using the vestiges of a failed art major to create excessively complicated figures, and overwatering my houseplants. For more info, check out: https://www.sarabweinstein.com/
Animals host extensive microbial communities that play crucial roles in animal development and survival. Although changes in this microbiome are linked to negative health outcomes, healthy individuals also exhibit extensive natural variation. Here, using the widespread rodent genus Neotoma, we experimentally measured how diet, geography, and evolutionary history structure the natural gut microbiome and predict resistance to disturbance. Neotoma microbiomes were structured by both neutral (e.g. geography) and host (e.g. diet and phylogeny) factors Captivity consistently altered the gut microbiome and increased the structuring effects of host evolutionary history, however sensitivity to this disturbance varied between species. Our results suggest that geography, diet and evolutionary history all contribute gut microbiome structure, particularly in wild settings and provide strong evidence for host genetic control of gut microbiome structure and stability.