SelectedWorks - Leonora S. Bittleston

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Selected Works of Leonora S. Bittleston

Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences

Dr. Leonora S. Bittleston started at Boise State University in 2020 and is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Biological Sciences. She earned a Ph.D. in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard University and a B.S. in Molecular Environmental Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining Boise State, she was a James S. McDonnell Postdoctoral Fellow in Complex Systems with Dr. Otto Cordero at MIT. Dr. Bittleston studies microbial ecology and is fascinated by the complex interactions that form between very different kinds of organisms. She aims to learn more about life on our planet, taking into account the interconnectedness of ecosystem processes, communities, and species. Dr. Bittleston is currently a member of the Ecological Society of America, the International Society for Microbial Ecology, and the Mycological Society of America.

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About Leonora S. Bittleston

Dr. Leonora S. Bittleston started at Boise State University in 2020 and is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Biological Sciences. She earned a Ph.D. in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard University and a B.S. in Molecular Environmental Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining Boise State, she was a James S. McDonnell Postdoctoral Fellow in Complex Systems with Dr. Otto Cordero at MIT. Dr. Bittleston studies microbial ecology and is fascinated by the complex interactions that form between very different kinds of organisms. She aims to learn more about life on our planet, taking into account the interconnectedness of ecosystem processes, communities, and species. Dr. Bittleston is currently a member of the Ecological Society of America, the International Society for Microbial Ecology, and the Mycological Society of America.

Peer-Reviewed Articles (17)

Reciprocal Inhibition and Competitive Hierarchy Cause Negative Biodiversity-Ecosystem Function Relationships (Rafael D'Andrea, Gabriel Khattar, Thomas Koffel, et al.) Ecology Letters (2024)

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function (BEF) captivates ecologists, but the factors responsible for the direction of this relationship remain unclear. While higher ecosystem functioning at higher biodiversity levels (‘positive BEF’) is not universal ...

Sarracenia Pitcher Plant-Associated Microbial Communities Differ Primarily by Host Species Across a Longitudinal Gradient (Jacob A. Heil, Charles J. Wolock, Naomi E. Pierce, et al.) Environmental Microbiology (2022)

Plant-associated microbial communities can profoundly affect plant health and success, and research is still uncovering factors driving the assembly of these communities. Here, we examine how geography versus host species affects microbial community structure and ...

Characterization and Comparison of Convergence Among Cephalotus follicularis Pitcher Plant-Associated Communities with Those of Nepenthes and Sarracenia Found Worldwide (Leonora S. Bittleston, Elizabeth L. Benson, Jessica R. Bernardin, et al.) Frontiers in Plant Science (2022)

The Albany pitcher plant, Cephalotus follicularis, has evolved cup-shaped leaves and a carnivorous habit completely independently from other lineages of pitcher plants. It is the only species in the family Cephalotaceae and is restricted to ...

Interactions Between Strains Govern the Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics of Microbial Communities (Akshit Goyal, Leonora S. Bittleston, Gabriel E. Leventhal, et al.) eLife (2022)

Genomic data has revealed that genotypic variants of the same species, that is, strains, coexist and are abundant in natural microbial communities. However, it is not clear if strains are ecologically equivalent, and at what ...

Exploring Microbiome Functional Dynamics Through Space and Time with Trait-Based Theory (Leonora S. Bittleston and Jessica R. Bernardin) mSystems (2021)

Microbiomes play essential roles in the health and function of animal and plant hosts and drive nutrient cycling across ecosystems. Integrating novel trait-based approaches with ecological theory can facilitate the prediction of microbial functional traits ...

Investigation of an Elevational Gradient Reveals Strong Differences Between Bacterial and Eukaryotic Communities Coinhabiting Nepenthes Phytotelmata (Kadeem J. Gilbert, Leonora S. Bittleston, Mark Arcebal K. Naive, et al.) Microbial Ecology (2020)

Elevation is an important determinant of ecological community composition. It integrates several abiotic features and leads to strong, repeatable patterns of community structure, including changes in the abundance and richness of numerous taxa. However, the ...

Quantifying the Relative Importance of Variation in Predation and the Environment for Species Coexistence (Lauren G. Shoemaker, Allison K. Barner, Leonora S. Bittleston, et al.) Ecology Letters (2020)

Coexistence and food web theory are two cornerstones of the long‐standing effort to understand how species coexist. Although competition and predation are known to act simultaneously in communities, theory and empirical study of these processes ...

Context-Dependent Dynamics Lead to the Assembly of Functionally Distinct Microbial Communities (Leonora S. Bittleston, Matti Gralka, Gabriel E. Levanthal, et al.) Nature Communications (2020)

Niche construction through interspecific interactions can condition future community states on past ones. However, the extent to which such history dependency can steer communities towards functionally different states remains a subject of active debate. Using ...

Tropical Pitcher Plants (Nepenthes) Act as Ecological Filters by Altering Properties of Their Fluid Microenvironments (Kadeem J. Gilbert, Leonora S. Bittleston, Wenfei Tong, et al.) Scientific Reports (2020)

Characteristics of host species can alter how other, interacting species assemble into communities by acting as ecological filters. Pitchers of tropical pitcher plants (Nepenthes) host diverse communities of aquatic arthropods and microbes in nature. This ...

Convergence Between the Microcosms of Southeast Asian and North American Pitcher Plants (Leonora S. Bittleston, Charles J. Wolock, Bakhtiar E. Yahya, et al.) eLife (2018)

The ‘pitchers’ of carnivorous pitcher plants are exquisite examples of convergent evolution. An open question is whether the living communities housed in pitchers also converge in structure or function. Using samples from more than 330 ...

Dissecting Host-Associated Communities with DNA Barcodes (Christopher C.M. Baker, Leonora S. Bittleston, Jon G. Sanders, et al.) Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (2016)

DNA barcoding and metabarcoding methods have been invaluable in the study of interactions between host organisms and their symbiotic communities. Barcodes can help identify individual symbionts that are difficult to distinguish using morphological characters, and ...

Convergence in Multispecies Interactions (Leonora S. Bittleston, Naomi E. Pierce, Aaron M. Ellison, et al.) Trends in Ecology and Evolution (2016)

The concepts of convergent evolution and community convergence highlight how selective pressures can shape unrelated organisms or communities in similar ways. We propose a related concept, convergent interactions, to describe the independent evolution of multispecies ...

Metabarcoding as a Tool for Investigating Arthropod Diversity in Nepenthes Pitcher Plants (Leonora S. Bittleston, Christopher C.M. Baker, Lila B. Strominger, et al.) Austral Ecology (2016)

The biodiversity of tropical forests consists primarily of small organisms that are difficult to detect and characterize. Next‐generation sequencing (NGS) methods can facilitate analyses of these arthropod and microbial communities, leading to a better understanding ...

Genetic Distance May Underlie Virulence Differences Among Isolates of a Bacterial Plant Pathogen (H. D. Coletta-Filho, L. S. Bittleston, J. R. S. Lopes, et al.) Journal of Plant Pathology (2015)

Certain pathogens evolve with their hosts in a stepwise arms race of virulence and resistance, mediated by one or a few genetic loci in their genomes. Other pathogens may retain the ability to colonize hosts ...

Origin and Examination of a Leafhopper Facultative Endosymbiont (Patrick H. Degnan, Leonora S. Bittleston, Allison K. Hansen, et al.) Current Microbiology (2011)

Eukaryotes engage in intimate interactions with microbes that range in age and type of association. Although many conspicuous examples of ancient insect associates are studied (e.g., Buchnera aphidicola), fewer examples of younger associations are known. Here, we ...

Spatial Genetic Structure of a Vector-Borne Generalist Pathogen (Helvécio D. Coletta-Filho, Leonora S. Bittleston and Rodrigo P. P. Almeida) Applied and Environmental Microbiology (2011)

Vector-borne generalist pathogens colonize several reservoir species and are usually dependent on polyphagous arthropods for dispersal; however, their spatial genetic structure is generally poorly understood. Using fast-evolving genetic markers (20 simple sequence repeat loci, resulting ...

Endophytic Fungi Reduce Leaf-Cutting Ant Damage to Seedlings (L. S. Bittleston, F. Brockman, W. Wcislo, et al.) Biology Letters (2011)

Our study examines how the mutualism between Atta colombica leaf-cutting ants and their cultivated fungus is influenced by the presence of diverse foliar endophytic fungi (endophytes) at high densities in tropical leaf tissues. We conducted laboratory choice ...

Commensals of Nepenthes Pitchers (Leonora S. Bittleston) Carnivorous Plants: Physiology, Ecology, and Evolution (2018)

Carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plants contain aquatic ecosystems within each fluid-filled pitcher. Communities of arthropods and microbes colonize pitcher pools, and some organisms are endemic to the pitcher habitat. Flies and mites are the most apparent colonizers, and ...

Current Perspectives in the Study of Mutualism (Leonora Bittleston) Ecology (2016)

On the Kenyan savanna, a colony of tiny ants protects a shrubby tree from an elephant in search of tasty leaves. The ants swarm off the tree and climb inside the trunk of this giant ...

History Strongly Affects Bacterial Community Re-Assembly and Ecosystem Function Under a Common Environmental Selection Regime (Leonora S. Bittleston and Otto X. Cordero) Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting (2018)

Background/Question/MethodsMicrobes profoundly shape the ecosystems of our planet, yet we still lack a clear understanding of how their community structures and functions impact vital processes. Here, we use pitcher plant microcosms to investigate if community ...

Pitcher Plants as Experimental Ecosystems (Leonora S. Bittleston) Postdocs in Complexity Conference II, Santa Fe Institute (2017)

Convergence in the Microbiomes of Natural Plant-associated Microcosms on Different Continents (Leonora S. Bittleston) Boston Bacterial Meeting 2017 (2017)

Convergence Between the Microcosms of Southeast Asian and North American Pitcher Plants (Leonora Bittleston) Yale Forest Forum, Yale University (2018)

Pitcher Plants as Experimental Ecosystems (Leonora Bittleston) AIV Masterclass, Centre Researche Interdisciplinaires (2018)

Convergence Among Microbiomes of Carnivorous Pitcher Plants in Southeast Asia and North America (Leonora Bittleston) Biological Sciences Seminar, University of New Hampshire (2016)