Microbial interactions across time and space*

There is great interest in explaining microbial diverstiy, but a critical first step that is often downplayed is understanding the spatial and temporal scales that are relevant to the system. In this talk I discuss the relative importance of interactions among bacteria and phage viruses, between bacterial strains and species within a microbiome, and between a host and its symbionts to emphasize the role of evolution and coevolution in shaping diversity across scales. I focus primarly on the plant phyllosphere as a model system to explore these interactions both in natural, ecologically complex, and simple experimental systems.