Dr Christopher van der Gast

Dr Christopher van der Gast

Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Maclean Building
Wallingford
OX10 8BB
T: +44 (0)1491 838800
F: +44 (0)1491 692424
 

Current work

I am an Environmental Microbiologist at the NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), where I specialise in fundamental and applied microbial ecology.  My applied research in industrial wastewater treatment has led to the formation of the spin-out company Microbial Solutions Limited. Within my fundamental research, I investigate patterns and processes in microbial communities and populations from environments as varied as industrial wastewaters to Antarctic lakes. I am particularly interested in the community ecology and spatial / temporal scaling of microbial taxa and the effects of environmental change upon microbial taxa distributions. My overarching aims are to develop conceptual tools for environmental microbiology by stimulating the interface between mathematical and theoretical ecology and to integrate microbial ecology into the general science of ecology.

Research interests

  • Applied and environmental microbiology
  • Biogeographical distributions of microorganisms
  • Community and population ecology
  • Environmental biotechnology
  • Microbial ecology
  • Modelling of microbial ecosystems

Brief CV

  • 2009 to date: Research into effects of anthropogenic disturbances on microbial communities
  • 2009 to date: Member of NERC Peer Review College and Editorial board member for Environmental Microbiology and Environmental Microbiology Reports
  • 2008 to date: Academic founder & now Non-Executive Director of Microbial Solutions Ltd.
  • 2006 to date: Research on microbial community ecology and biogeography
  • 2004 to date: Research on biogeography and spatial scaling of microorganisms
  • 1997 to date: Research on microbiological treatment of industrial wastewaters

Research in the above areas has been funded by NERC, BBSRC, DEFRA, EPSRC, and collaborative partners from industry.

Please follow this link for a fuller CV.

Selected Publications

See also the NERC Open Research Archive.

van der Gast CJ, Ager D, Lilley AK (2008) Temporal scaling of bacterial taxa is influenced by both stochastic and deterministic ecological factors. Environ Microbiol 10: 1411-1418

van der Gast CJ (2008) Islands shaping thought in microbial ecology. Adv Appl Microbiol 64: 167-182

Woodcock S, van der Gast CJ, Bell T, Lunn M, Curtis TP, Head IM, and Sloan WT (2007) Neutral assembly of bacterial communities. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 62: 171-180

Travis ER, Hannink NK, van der Gast CJ, Thompson IP, Rosser SJ, Bruce NC. (2007) The impact of transgenic tobacco on trinitrotoluene (TNT) contaminated soil community. Environ Sci Technol 41: 5854-5861

Prosser JI, Bohannan BJM, Curtis TP, Ellis RJ, Firestone MK, Freckleton RP, Green JL, Green LE, Killham K, Lennon JJ, Osborn AM, Solan M, van der Gast CJ, Young JP (2007) The role of ecological theory in microbial ecology. Nature Rev Microbiol 5: 384-392.

Field, D, Wilson G, van der Gast C (2006) How do we compare hundreds of bacterial genomes? Curr Opin Microbiol 9:499-504.

van der Gast CJ, Jefferson B, Reid E, Robinson T, Bailey MJ, Judd SJ, Thompson IP (2006) Bacterial diversity is determined by volume in membrane bioreactors. Environ Microbiol 8: 1048-1055.

Bell T, Newman JA, Thompson IP, Lilley AK, van der Gast CJ (2005) Bacteria and island biogeography. Science 309: 1998-1999.

van der Gast CJ, Lilley AK, Ager D, Thompson IP (2005) Island size and bacterial diversity in an archipelago of engineering machines. Environ Microbiol 7: 1220-1226.

Bell T, Ager D, Song J-I, Newman JA, Thompson IP, Lilley AK, van der Gast CJ (2005) Larger islands house more diverse bacterial communities. Science 308: 1884.