Christine Hawkes
Professor
Thomas Hall 2560B
Bio
Hawkes is an ecologist studying the functions of plant and soil microbiomes. She received her bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Bucknell University, and her Ph.D. in biology from the University of Pennsylvania. In her dissertation research, she addressed how soil microorganisms affected population viability of endangered plants. As a David H. Smith Postdoctoral Fellow, she studied the role of soil microbes in plant invasions and nitrogen cycling at the University of California, Berkeley. As a National Science Foundation (NSF) Postdoctoral Fellow, she addressed how root-associated microbes affect carbon cycling with warming temperatures. Hawkes currently leads a cross-disciplinary research program focused on (1) how plant microbiomes mediate plant stress phenotypes and (2) how drought and climate legacies affect plant and soil microbiomes.
Learn more about the Hawkes Lab
Education
Ph.D. Biology University of Pennsylvania 2000
B.A. Environmental Studies Bucknell University 1993
Area(s) of Expertise
Microbial and Plant Ecology
Publications
- Priorities, opportunities, and challenges for integrating microorganisms into Earth system models for climate change prediction , MBIO (2024)
- Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of Nigrospora sp. isolated from switchgrass leaves and antagonistic toward plant pathogens , JOURNAL OF MICROBIOLOGICAL METHODS (2023)
- Fungal Symbionts Generate Water-Saver and Water-Spender Plant Drought Strategies via Diverse Effects on Host Gene Expression , PHYTOBIOMES JOURNAL (2023)
- Manipulating the plant mycobiome to enhance resilience: Ecological and evolutionary opportunities and challenges , PLOS PATHOGENS (2023)
- Plant-soil feedback under drought: does history shape the future? , TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION (2023)
- Legacies of precipitation influence primary production in Panicum virgatum , OECOLOGIA (2022)
- Microbes, memory and moisture: Predicting microbial moisture responses and their impact on carbon cycling , FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY (2022)
- Plant Host Traits Mediated by Foliar Fungal Symbionts and Secondary Metabolites , MICROBIAL ECOLOGY (2022)
- Drought legacy affects microbial community trait distributions related to moisture along a savannah grassland precipitation gradient , JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY (2021)
- Extension of Plant Phenotypes by the Foliar Microbiome , ANNUAL REVIEW OF PLANT BIOLOGY, VOL 72, 2021 (2021)