​Kadeem J. Gilbert, Ph.D

Principal Investigator
Kellogg Biological Station | Plant Biology | Ecology, Evolution, & Behavior Program
gilbe334@msu.edu                                                                                                 CV
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USDA-NIFA Postdoctoral Research Fellow | Penn State | 2019-2021
Ph.D. | Organismic & Evolutionary Biology | Harvard University | 2019
B.S. | Natural Resources (Applied Ecology) | Cornell University | 2012
Kadeem is an ecologist and evolutionary biologist primarily interested in interactions between plants and other organisms, especially when those interactions are symbiotic (i.e. the associated organisms spend a significant portion of their lives in close physical contact with host plant tissues). He especially aims to examine the ways in which plants influence their symbionts by manipulating the abiotic properties of their leaf micro-environments. For his investigations, he utilizes a wide array of techniques and approaches, including field observation, manipulative experiments, phylogenetic comparative methods, DNA metabarcoding, transcriptomics, and metatranscriptomics.

​Sylvie Martin-Eberhardt

Ph.D. Student
martineb@msu.edu
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B.S. | Biology/Linguistics double major | Indiana University | 2021
Sylvie is broadly interested in the adaptive significance of plant traits, particularly in the context of plant-insect interactions. She has a special interest in carnivorous plants as systems with uniquely complex insect interactions. Co-advised by Dr. Marjorie Weber in the Department of Plant Biology, she is examining anthocyanin (red pigments) in Sarracenia and is curious about the complex benefits that red pigmentation might confer to carnivorous plants, as well as convergence in red pigmented structures across lineages.  Prior to joining the Gilbert lab, she completed her undergraduate in Biology and Linguistics at Indiana University, where she studied honeybee – flower microbiome ecology. She also completed a field program at Notre Dame’s field station (UNDERC) in northern Michigan, where her fascination with carnivorous plant anthocyanin was sparked by a project investigating if red venation on trap leaves guides insects to the trap surface.

Dillon Wheeler

​REU Student
dillonwheeler@gmail.com​
​Dillon is an undergraduate researcher from Lee University (Biology/Anthropology double major), graduating in Fall 2022. He has a special interest in wetland plants. During the summer of 2022, he is working in the Gilbert Lab as an REU student at KBS examining the unique systems and strategies employed by carnivorous plants. Specifically, he is designing and implementing experiments investigating the local native pitcher plant population's (Sarracenia purpurea) potential capture, digestion, and utilization of leaf litter.
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