I’m Anna Carnes. I graduated from Georgia Tech with a bachelor’s in biology and a certificate in ecology, evolution, and conservation biology earlier this month. I’ve been working in the Kostka Lab for almost three years now, and in 2023, I was awarded a Research Traineeship from Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant to support my undergraduate research.
When I was little, I loved playing in the mud and helping my dad with our family farm. I loved working in the garden, feeding the pigs, and the feeling of accomplishment after working so hard. So, it was no surprise to me that I loved fieldwork in salt marshes. I loved being knee deep in smelly marsh sediment, carrying heavy equipment back and forth, and feeling exhausted at the end of the day. I had the amazing opportunity to do fieldwork on Sapelo Island, Georgia, to collect samples for my project and other projects in my lab. The more I’ve learned about salt marshes, the more passionate I am about protecting them.
Spartina alterniflora is the dominant plant in salt marshes along the east coast and the Gulf of Mexico. The health of the marsh is tied to the health of S. alterniflora, and this plant has been vital to many coastal restoration projects. Disease has been rampant in salt marsh vegetation, weakening natural marshes and slowing down restoration progress. Recent studies have focused on how microbiomes, which include microbes that live in, on, and around plants, play an important role in plant health. The first symptoms of disease in S. alterniflora show in the leaves, yet few studies have focused on the leaf microbiome.
Salt marsh environment on Sapelo Island.
The goal of my project was to thoroughly characterize the leaf microbiome of S. alterniflora. I wanted to know which microbes affect the health of S. alterniflora, which meant looking at which microbes are found in healthy plants, which microbes are found in diseased plants, and how these communities differ.
I looked for trends in the microbial communities based on plant health, plant height, growth condition (plants from the natural marsh or plants grown from seeds in a greenhouse) and location. Through this research, I found that there are trends in the leaf microbiome based on these factors. We identified many interesting microbes that were highly abundant in different subgroups, and most were halophiles (highly salt tolerant). We also found that short plants may be more stressed and vulnerable than tall plants.
Anna Carnes in the field.
The results of my research provide foundational information for diagnosing and treating disease in salt marsh vegetation. Further research is needed to determine the role of many of the microbes we found, but we now know which microbes are most abundant based on plant height, plant health, and growth conditions. My findings may also be used to help improve the success of using greenhouse grown S. alterniflora plants for restoration purposes.
My traineeship has been vital to the progress I have made academically, professionally and personally. It gave me the opportunity to focus on my research, allowing me to finish my data analysis and write a thesis. Without the research traineeship, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet so many amazing scientists who share my passion for conservation and ecology. Wherever I go next, I will continue to volunteer for fieldwork and make meaningful contributions to conservation biology.