Ember Morrissey, Ph.D

Currently accepting new graduate students!

Microorganisms are incredibly diverse and ubiquitously disturbed. Dr. Morrissey’s teaching focuses on how these tiny microbes have big impacts on the biology of larger organisms (in Microbial Symbioses) and ecosystem function (in Microbes and Global Change). Dr. Morrissey’s research aims to better understand natural and agricultural ecosystems through the consideration of microbial communities. Specifically, her lab studies how environmental conditions structure microbial communities and how the composition of these communities regulate ecosystem biogeochemistry and plant performance.

Select Publications

1. Dang, C., & Morrissey, E. M. (2024). The size and diversity of microbes determine carbon use efficiency in soil. Environmental Microbiology, 26(5), e16633.
2. Kane, J. L., Schartiger, R. G., Daniels, N. K., Freedman, Z. B., McDonald, L. M., Skousen, J. G., & Morrissey, E. M. (2023). Bioenergy crop Miscanthus x giganteus acts as an ecosystem engineer to increase bacterial diversity and soil organic matter on marginal land. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 186, 109178.
3. Morrissey, E. M., Kane, J., Tripathi, B. M., Rion, M. S. I., Hungate, B. A., Franklin, R., ... & Brzostek, E. (2023). Carbon acquisition ecological strategies to connect soil microbial biodiversity and carbon cycling. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 177, 108893.
4. Kane, JL, Kotcon, JB, Freedman, ZB, Morrissey, EM (2022). Fungivorous nematodes drive microbial diversity and carbon cycling in soil. Ecology
5. Dang C, Walkup JGV, Franklin RB, Schwartz E, Hungate BA, Morrissey EM (2022) Phylogenetic organization in the assimilation of chemically distinct substrates by soil bacteria. Environmental microbiology, 24(1), 357-369. 
6. Reed, K., & Morrissey, E. M. (2022). Bridging ecology and agronomy to foster diverse pastures and healthy soils. Agronomy, 12(8), 1893.
7. Morrissey EM, Mau RL, Hayer M, Liu XJ, Schwartz E, Dijkstra P, Koch BJ, Allen K, Blazewicz SJ, Hofmockel K, Pett-Ridge J, Hungate BA (2019) Evolutionary history constrains microbial traits across environmental variation. Nature Ecology and Evolution. 3, 1064-1069